Low-Volume Roads and Road Safety Audits: Lessons Learned

Low-volume roads, paved and unpaved, pose a safety concern for various road users. Changes in roadway ownership, diverse user groups, traffic patterns, and new developments often create conditions unanticipated in the original roadway design. This problem is particularly true for low-volume roads, many of which were not formally designed. Low-volume roads represent a large portion of the national roadway network and crash problem. It is difficult to quantify the crash problem on low-volume roads, but 40% of fatal crashes in the United States occur on local roads, many of which are rural and low volume. Rural roads also have much higher crash rates than urban roads. Although the magnitude of crashes on this network is relatively large, crashes are fairly disbursed because of the vast mileage. Thus, it is difficult to identify crash clusters and trends with traditional engineering studies. Also, crash data may not be maintained, and allocation may not be referenced for these roadways. Road safety audits (RSAs) are one way to overcome several shortcomings of traditional engineering studies that analyze low-volume roads. RSAs are an effective tool for proactively improving the safety performance of a road. This paper discusses applying RSAs to identify and address safety issues on low-volume paved roads by considering their unique characteristics. In addition, unpaved roads are discussed with respect to the potential for RSAs to address safety concerns at these locations. The paper summarizes common safety issues identified on low-volume roads through 10 years of RSA experience. Potential low-cost safety strategies are also identified.