Critical Issues and Countermeasures for Expressway Safety Improvement

Abstract

Safety improvement is an indispensable process for an expressway to maintain and enhance its safety performance. Similar to an expressway safety audit project conducted on several existing expressway facilities for the Jiangxi Provincial Communications Department, the authors identified several critical safety issues in terms of facility design, maintenance, and operations. Illustrated by pictures, these issues include: poor service area design, neglected local access road improvement, improper roadside safety design, inadequate/improper installation of signs and markings, insufficient maintenance/construction zone protection, and inadequate right-of-way reservations. The causes and possible consequences of these issues are pointed out, and tentative countermeasures proposed. Due to the nation-wide significance of these issues, it is suggested that a safety improvement management program be instituted across China, so that potential safety issues like as the previously mentioned can be dealt with on a consistent, constant, systematic, and quantitative basis.