The Safety Evaluation of Expressway Geometries by Cross-sectional Analysis Techniques

Abstract

The representative design elements of the road geometric structure are longitudinal slope, horizontal curve radius, super elevation, and transition curve. According to the function of a road, the design standards of these elements is applied by diverse combinations of them. This study divided expressway into homogeneous segments based on longitudinal slope and horizontal curve radius. And then, data required for analysis were matched to each segment, and the safety performance function was built by using the established data. crash modification factors which can explain traffic accident exposure rate were calculated. When the threshold value of horizontal curve radius R=1,000 m was set to 1.0, the crash modification factors at R=300 m was calculated as 1.33, which means that the accident exposure rate is increased by 33%. When the threshold value of the longitudinal slope 0% was set to 1.0, the crash modification factors demonstrated that the accident exposure rate decreases on the upward slope and the accident exposure rate increases on the downward slope. The results of this study can be used as basic information in the design of expressway geometries during the improvement or the construction of expressways.