Highlights This paper compares two methods used to estimate road safety interventions success. The methodology is based on data from experimental resurfaced road segments. Resurfacing of road segments using gap-graded asphalt affected positively safety. This article shows Difference-in-Differences method as a surrogate to usual ones.
Abstract Vehicle crashes are globally considered a public health problem, and efforts are increasing to create safe road projects to avoid their occurrences. One of the most studied contributing factors is the surface condition of the roads, especially in regards to the skid resistance and weather conditions that may affect them. Studies suggest that the implementation of interventions such as asphalt resurfacing aiming to increase the pavement surface drainage and friction combined with the observation of its effects on the number of wet-road crashes aids in reducing such events. In this context, the objective of this study is to quantify the safety effectiveness of pavement resurfacing using unidirectional data from the northbound road of the Régis Bittencourt Highway - BR116, a Brazilian road. Two experimental sections were selected and received a surface replacement of a thin layer of gap-graded asphalt. The effectiveness of the intervention was estimated by the Empirical Bayes before-after (EB) and the Difference-in-Differences (DID) methods. While the former returned a reduction value in the total number of crashes by approximately 48%, the second method, besides showing a total reduction of 56%, also showed a 57% reduction when analyzing wet-road crashes separately. Thus, the safety effectiveness of resurfacing with gap-graded asphalt has been proved. However, the main contribution of this paper is the application of the DID method, which can create reliable comparison groups and is an alternative to the EB method.
Safety effects of pavement resurfacing: A Brazilian experience
2021-10-09
8 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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