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Highway Safety Programs
The Ohio Department of
Transportation's
Highway Safety Programs focus on both freeway and non-freeway,
high-crash and congested locations. Each year, the department
prioritizes these locations for improvements using available funding.
The
Program is administered by the
Office of Systems
Planning and Program Management and
District
Safety Coordinators in each region of the state. Each
year, about $65
million in funding is awarded for projects in a variety of categories, including:
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Highway Safety Program (HSP)
HSP identifies the top
200 Non-Freeway Locations
and the top
50 Freeway
Locations
for crashes. These
are chosen based on crash
rate (crashes per volume of traffic), frequency (number of crashes),
density (crashes per length of road), severity, and other analytical
factors.
Hot Spot
Hot Spot Locations are defined
as any two-mile segment of freeway with more than 250 crashes or a
non-freeway location with more than 250 crashes over three years.
Rear End Hot Spot Locations Map
These are locations with a high number of rear-end collisions, which
typically occur in congested areas. ODOT examines those
locations with more than 150 rear-end crashes in a two-mile section
(both freeways and non-freeways).
Congestion
Congestion Locations
are identified by calculating a
roadway's volume to capacity ratio (V/C), which compares the volume of
traffic with the capacity (number of lanes) of the roadway to handle
it. Roadway sections with V/C ratios greater than 1.0 are considered
congested and added to the annual work plan and sections with V/C ratios
between 0.9 and 1.0 are added if they are outside of Columbus,
Cincinnati, and Cleveland.
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The Process
Each
year, information on these top locations is shared with ODOT
District Offices. Each District
Office is then required to study and address high-crash and congested
locations through an annual work plan.
To determine the best solutions for fixing these locations, each
District Office or local sponsor must conduct an engineering analysis
that includes a review of existing roadway conditions and crash
reports. This analysis will help identify common crash patterns and
probable causes to determine the best strategies to reduce crashes.
Projects sponsors are
encouraged to examine a full range of options from
short-term, low-cost strategies, such as new signs, pavement markings
and drainage improvements to mid-cost, mid-term strategies such as new
traffic signals, turn lanes and realignments.
District Offices may
pay for these improvements through their annual budget or they can
seek money each spring (April) and fall (October) through ODOT's
Highway Safety Program, which awards $65 million annually.
Long-term, high-cost strategies over $5 million are funded through the
department's Major New Construction Program.
A
six-member committee at ODOT headquarters reviews all of the Highway
Safety Program
applications and supporting safety studies. The committee can
approve a proposal, select a different safety strategy or request
further study before allocating money.
Once funding is secured, safety
projects are scheduled for construction.
How
quickly projects proceed to construction depends on the available
funding and complexity of the project. Short-term, low-cost
projects can be implemented within a few months, while other projects
which require environmental mitigation, or involve complex engineering
design and or utility and right of way relocation may take several
years. In all cases, ODOT encourages sponsors to act as
quickly as possible.
Upon project completion, the department
monitors locations to make sure the improvements are
reducing crashes as designed.
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