Highway Access Safety Program Evaluation with Uncertain Parameters

Abstract

Access management in transportation planning can reduce crashes, increase route capacities, and reduce travel times. The literature suggests a need for performance metrics and a decision-aiding framework to guide access management programs across large corridor networks and diverse time horizons. This paper describes a quantitative framework to support access management programs that focus on safety, applying multicriteria analysis, and cost-benefit analysis with parameter uncertainties. The metrics used to assess relative needs at existing access points include crash exposure, crash intensity, traffic exposure, and costs of typical access management activities. Uncertain parameters that influence the estimates of the potential benefits and costs are identified and treated via a numerical interval analysis. The framework is demonstrated at several geographic scales and locations including 7,000 km of highways of a