Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 1 RISK-BASED MANAGEMENT OF GUARDRAILS: SITE SELECTION AND UPGRADING Presented to The Project Steering Committee by The Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems September 15 th, 2000

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 2 Project Team VDOT Richmond District Travis Bridewell, District Traffic Engineer, Richmond District Jeff Wilkinson, Transportation Engineer, Traffic Engineering Section, Richmond District Baron Gissendaner Virginia Transportation Research Council Wayne S. Ferguson, Research Manager Steering Committee Steve Edwards, Transportation Engineer Senior, Traffic Engineering Division, Central Office Paul Kelley, Transportation Engineer, Location and Design Division, Central Office Charlie Kilpatrick, Fredericksburg Resident Engineer, Fredericksburg District Bob McCarty, Senior Field Operations Engineer, Federal Highway Administration - Richmond Ginger Quinn, District Safety Officer, Traffic Engineering Section, Salem District Nancy Berry, Transportation Engineering Program Supervisor, Location and Design Division, Central Office

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 3 Project Team (cont.) Additional Current and Former Resident Engineers Bill Bushman Angela Tucker Willie Gentry Alan Leatherwood Dan Roosevelt Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems James H. Lambert, Research Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering Yacov Y. Haimes, Quarles Professor of Systems Engineering and Civil Engineering and Center Director Jeffrey A. Baker, BS/MS Student Kenneth Peterson, Undergraduate Student Capstone Team Christian Baldwin Irene Jacoub Mike Raker

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 4 Agenda I.Motivation II.Data representation for Hazard Catalog III.Data representation for Corridor Screening IV.Data representation for Site Prioritization V.Discussion

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 5 I. Motivation

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 6 Motivation Public and transportation-agency priorities concerning the location of roadway guardrails are in need of clarification The concerns of Virginians for adequate guardrails relative to national norms are high Current practice in some VDOT Districts for selecting locations for new guardrails is based upon citizen complaints, a general knowledge of roadway needs from local engineers, and accident history

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 7 Motivation (cont.) E.g., there are hundreds of candidate locations on the thirteen-county secondary system of Richmond District; over 50,000 miles of roadway in Virginia Kentucky developed a hazard-index point system (Kentucky Transportation Center Report KTC "Warrants and Guidelines for Installation of Guardrail") Particular locations in New Kent and Charles City County were the focus of a related preliminary study in Richmond District

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 8 Purpose and Scope Objectives: –Review and evaluation of what others have done –Adoption of assessment methods and quantitative and qualitative factors –Development of a tradeoff methodology –Specification and prototype development of databases

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 9 Overview of Approach A data driven approach to assessing risk and evaluating safety of candidate guardrail locations by Catalog Screening phases Evaluation phases Data needs in a case study Developing Software

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 10 Corridor Screening Select corridors to examine

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 11 Site Prioritization Select locations along given corridor

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 12 New Kent Case Study Data Collection for Corridor Screening Tool –Accident statistics of given corridors –Routes Data Collection for Site Prioritization and Hazard Catalog Tool –Routes 611, 613, 640, 665

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 13 II. Hazard Catalog Tool

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 14 Purpose Compile an inventory of hazard sites and guardrail coverage, and conditions of guardrails Compare and contrast routes to determine which are in need of further study Present in a graphical format information pertinent to decisions about improvements

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 15 Severity Guidelines

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 16 Hazard Catalog Screening

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 17 Hazard Catalog Screening (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost/value

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 18 Hazard Catalog Screening (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 19 Hazard Catalog Screening (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost/value

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 20 IV. Corridor Tool

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 21 Purpose Compare corridors for frequency and severity of accidents Highlight corridors that have greatest accidents/DVMT ratio Compare results with current guardrail coverage

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 22 Corridor Screening

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 23 Corridor Screening (cont.)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 24 IV. Site Prioritization Tool

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 25 Purpose Decide which sites should be improved with the current budget constraint Consider multiple criteria

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 26 Objective (cont.)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 27 Objectives of Guardrail Selection

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 28 Example Maximize length of hazard protected Subject to budget constraints – (E.g. total cost < $30,000)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 29 Site Prioritization Tool Analysis Compare sites and their characteristics (cost, severity, ADT) Select routes with the highest benefit/cost ratios that fall within a budget constraint

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 30 Site Prioritization

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 31 Site Prioritization (cont.)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 32 Site Prioritization (cont.)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 33 Site Prioritization (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost/value ($)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 34 Site Prioritization (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost/value ($)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 35 Site Prioritization (cont.) Size of bubbles represent cost/value ($)

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 36 Comparison of Results Results can be compared to show the consistency of need at a location Budget constraint kept constant Example: –Locations 1,2,3,7, and 9 are recommended by the model to maximize severity protected

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 37 Summary and Future Work The spreadsheet tools provides a way to optimally select hazard sites within the budget constraints Comparing results from different solutions can reveal the locations most appropriate for improvement

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 38 Summary and Future Work (cont.) Issues for Implementation –Definition of Severity –Environmental Factors –Curvature of Road

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 39 Web Page Public reference for guardrails and treatment of issue Communication between VDOT and Capstone Software, instructions, and powerpoint

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 40 The Web Site Statement of Work Guardrail Photos Current Team Contact Information Related Links Downloads

Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems University of Virginia, Charlottesville 41 Discussion