Integrating Safety into the Transportation Planning Process: Case Study in Hampton Roads, Virginia

Abstract

The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to incorporate safety and security into the transportation planning process as one of the seven planning factors. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) is the designated MPO for Southeastern Virginia. In 2001, as part of its congestion management system (CMS) program, the HRPDC staff initiated a comprehensive regional safety study, which included collecting comprehensive crash data and creating a regional database for 151 Interstate segments and 13,000 intersections. The crash severity method was used to analyze, rank, and determine the top high-crash locations for Interstate segments as well as the CMS intersections. This regional safety study was designed to help local communities understand safety-related problems and issues. Congestion, failure to yield the right-of-way, following too closely, driver inattention, and disregarding traffic signals were found to be the main causes of traffic crashes in Hampton Roads between 1998 and 2000. Rear-ends and right angles were the predominant crash types during the period. The study analyzed and recommended a series of safety-related countermeasures and solutions for the top-10 high-crash locations throughout the region. Some common countermeasures that were recommended were adding roadway capacity, adding turn lanes at intersections, improving signal timing, improving signage, increasing enforcement, and providing additional driver education.