Integrating Vulnerable Road User Safety Criteria into Transportation Asset Management to Prioritize Budget Allocation at the Network Level

Abstract

Safety is a major worldwide concern due to the increasing number of fatalities of vulnerable road users (VRUs). VRUs are pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists, and their safety is a priority when making infrastructure management decisions. Traditionally, transportation agencies have adopted transportation asset management (TAM) practices based on performance measures to assess the physical condition of transport infrastructure. This paper describes a framework to incorporate VRU’s safety into the TAM decision-making process. The main objective of the VRU-TAM framework is to mitigate pedestrian fatalities by improving the decision-making process at the strategic and operational management level. The VRU-TAM framework is composed of four phases: assessment, prioritization, scenario analysis, and results. It includes a prioritization methodology using a safety-weighted effectiveness ratio (SWER) to consider pedestrian safety factors and costs in the decision-making process. In a broader perspective, pedestrian safety is affected by driver, demographic, pedestrian, infrastructure, and policy related factors. The decision-making criteria reflected in SWER considers the asset importance, location, pedestrian safety risk, costs, and remaining life in the budget allocation process, and adopts the dynamic bubble up (DBU) technique for budget prioritization at the network level. An example is presented for crosswalks to demonstrate the applicability of the methodology to evaluate different budget-driven scenarios for funding allocation. As a conclusion, it is demonstrated that the outcomes of the budget-driven scenarios following the method that incorporates safety criteria, with tangible metrics, offer a deeper understanding of the effects of budgetary constraints on backlog costs and the remaining life of infrastructure assets.

A step toward nurturing infrastructure sustainability and rating systems through construction management curricula

“…The purpose of sustainable development is to improve the performance of the built environment through TBL of social, environmental and economic implications (Elkington, 1998). Despite the benefits that such projects offer to the community, stakeholders are often restrained from pursuing sustainable developments due to a lack of sufficient understanding and expertise related to this development (Chang et al , 2022). Although green buildings are increasingly being implemented by planners and decision-makers around the world, SI has yet to gain traction.…”

Black Spot Location Identification for National Highway: A Case Study of Mugling – Kotre Section of Prithivi Highway of Nepal

“…However, limited progress has been made in addressing these pillars and consequently, Nepal is facing serious road safety challenges despite significant budget allocation in collaboration with national and international institutions. Road safety initiatives must be inclusive of all road users and roadside communities and places, especially of those users that are most vulnerable and least protected in their road environments (C. M. Chang et al, 2022). Inclusive road user policies and integrated land use/transport planning and place-making are necessary to ensure urban and rural roads are safe and accessible for all road users in Nepal.…”

Road Infrastructure Investment Limits Based on Minimal Accidents Using Artificial Neural Network

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