Researchers: David Noyce (PI), Andrea Bill, Ghazan Khan
Primary Project Objectives
This research focuses on ranking bridges for improvements based on winter weather crashes by region. During poor weather conditions bridges freeze before surrounding roadways creating a safety hazard. Utilizing anti-icing methods can prevent or minimize ice from forming on the surface. By prioritizing bridges that are most likely for accidents we can proactively use anti-icing methods to prevent such events from occurring.
The purpose of this research is determining the highest priority bridges during poor weather, in which recommendations are made for anti-icing maintenance operations. By reviewing all winter weather related crashes that occurred on the State Trunk Network over a five year period there is a large sample size to analyze using classifications such as “weather” and “road surface conditions”. Roadway inventory, traffic and crash data were integrated in a GIS framework for this research. With this data certain stretches of roadway can be identified enhancing highway safety.
