Wet Pavement Crash Study of Longitudinally and Transversely Tined Pcc Pavements
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Acknowledgments This report was compiled by Alex Drakopoulos and Dave Kuemmel of Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of a great number of individuals, without whom this volume would have not been possible: From the Wisconsin Department of Transportation-Steve Krebbs, Dave Larson, Dick Lange, Brad Javenkoski, Mike Schumacher, Peter Amakobe, Laura Fenley; from the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, Yusuf Mohamedshah; from the Midwest Research Institute Doug Harwood; from NOAA William Brown; from the Wisconsin State Climatologist Office Lyle Anderson; and all individuals mentioned in Appendix I. Any errors or omissions are solely the responsibility of the authors. Disclaimer This research was funded through the Wisconsin Highway Research Program by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration under Project # 0092-01- 06. The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration at the time of publication. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. This report does not constitute a standard, specification or regulation. The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade and manufacturers’ names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the object of the document. Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No 3. Recipient’s Catalog No WHRP 07-04 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date Wet Pavements Crash Study of Longitudinal and Transverse Tined PCC June 2007 Pavements 6. Performing Organization Code Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison 7. Authors 8. Performing Organization Report No. Alex Drakopoulos and David A. Kuemmel 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Center for Highway and Traffic Engineering Marquette University 11. Contract or Grant No. WisDOT SPR# 0092-00-08 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Wisconsin Department of Transportation Final Report, 2000-2007 Division of Business Services Research Coordination Section 14. Sponsoring Agency Code 4802 Sheboygan Ave. Rm 104 Madison, WI 53707 15. Supplementary Notes 16. Abstract This report provides crash statistics for Longitudinally Tined (LT) Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) and Transversely Tined (TT) PCC pavement surfaces. The statistics were compiled for urban and rural freeways, classified in two Average Daily Traffic (ADT) categories: pavements carrying less than 60,000 vehicles per day (VPD) and those carrying an ADT in excess of 60,000 VPD. Crash experience on California longitudinally tined PCC pavements was compared to that of Wisconsin transversely tined PCC pavements. Safety performance of wet pavements was the focus of the analysis. Rural freeways were considered to be ideal for this study, given the prevailing high speeds, absence of extraneous influences on safety (e.g., cross streets, on- street parking, pedestrians, traffic signals), and consistent design standards between the comparison states. Rainfall differences were accounted for with the use of hourly precipitation data, and terrain differences were taken into account by using level and rolling terrain California freeways (excluding mountainous terrain ones). Statistics were based on eight years of crash and hourly weather data (1991-1998). Crash rates were computed based on hundred-million-vehicle-miles of travel--more than 72 HMVM for Wisconsin and more than 500 HMVM for California. No statistically significant differences in safety performance were found between rural longitudinally tined freeways (California) and rural transversely tined freeways (Wisconsin) with ADT less than 60,000 vpd. It is recommended that safety comparisons between the two pavement textures be expanded to include winter pavement surface conditions when snow or ice are present on the roadway surface. If no significant safety performance differences are found under such conditions, longitudinally tined PCC pavements may be preferred over transversely tined ones, since they generate lower levels of tire-pavement noise. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement Concrete Pavement, Crash Rate, Pavement Texture, No restriction. This document is available to the public through Pavement Safety, Wisconsin, California, Wet the National Technical Information Service Pavement, Precipitation, Rural Freeway, 5285 Port Royal Road Longitudinal, Transverse, Traffic Safety Springfield VA 22161 19. Security Classif.(of this report) 19. Security Classif. (of this page) 20. No. of Pages 21. Price Unclassified Unclassified Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized WET PAVEMENT CRASH STUDY OF LONGITUDINALLY AND TRANSVERSELY TINED PCC PAVEMENTS Presented To: Wisconsin Department of Transportation Division of Transportation Infrastructure Development 3502 Kinsman Boulevard Madison, Wisconsin 53704 Prepared By: Alex Drakopoulos and David A. Kuemmel Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Marquette University P.O. Box 1881 Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201-1881 June 2007 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report provides crash statistics for Longitudinally Tined (LT) Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) and Transversely Tined (TT) PCC pavement surfaces. The statistics were compiled for urban and rural freeways, classified in two Average Daily Traffic (ADT) categories: pavements carrying less than 60,000 vehicles per day (VPD) and those carrying an ADT in excess of 60,000 VPD. The absence of significant mileage of longitudinally tined PCC surfaces in Mid-Western states lead to the decision to analyze California pavements where longitudinal texture has been the standard during the past several decades on all PCC pavements, except on bridge decks. Crash experience on California longitudinally tined PCC pavements was compared to that of Wisconsin transversely tined PCC pavements. Safety performance of wet pavements was the focus of the analysis. Rural freeways were considered to be ideal for this study, given the prevailing high speeds, absence of extraneous influences on safety (e.g., cross streets, on-street parking, pedestrians, traffic signals), and consistent design standards between the comparison states. Rainfall differences were accounted for with the use of hourly precipitation data, and terrain differences were taken into account by using level and rolling terrain California freeways (excluding mountainous terrain ones). Statistics were based on eight years of crash and hourly weather data (1991-1998). A total of more than 3,000 Wisconsin and 21,000 California rural freeway crashes and more than 500,000 urban California freeway crashes were analyzed in the present report. Crash rates were computed based on hundred-million-vehicle-miles of travel--more than 72 HMVM for Wisconsin and more than 500 HMVM for California rural freeways and more than five hundred billion miles of travel for California urban freeways. Thus, statistics are based on sufficiently large databases to provide confidence in the findings. The fundamental calculated statistic was the ratio of wet pavement crash rate to dry pavement crash rate within each state. Eight such ratios were computed for each state (one for each year) and the two sets of eight observations were compared for statistically significant differences. No statistically significant differences in safety performance were found between rural longitudinally tined freeways (California) and rural transversely tined freeways (Wisconsin) with ADT less than 60,000 vpd. It is recommended that safety comparisons between the two pavement textures be expanded to include winter pavement surface conditions when snow or ice are present on the roadway surface. If no significant safety performance differences are found under such conditions, longitudinally tined PCC pavements may be preferred over transversely tined ones, since they generate lower levels of tire-pavement noise. ii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE REPORT 100MVMT = Hundred-Million Vehicle Miles of Travel ADT = Average Daily Traffic CalTrans = California Department of Transportation FC = Friction Coefficient FHWA = Federal Highway Administration FN = Friction Number HMVMT = Hundred-Million Vehicle Miles of Travel Long PCC = Longitudinally tined PCC surface LT = Longitudinally Tined MOE = Measures of Effectiveness MPH = Miles per Hour MHVP = Million Heavy Vehicle Passes MVMT = Million Vehicle Miles of Travel PCC = Portland Cement Concrete Trns PCC = Transversely tined PCC surface TT = Transversely Tined TWG = Technical Working Group WisDOT = Wisconsin Department of Transportation VPD = Vehicles Per Day LSR = Liquid precipitation (rain) Safety Ratio HSIS = Highway Safety Information System iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ii Acronyms and Abbreviations Used in the Report iii Table of Contents iv List of Tables vii List of Figures ix Introduction 1 Report Organization 2 Literature Review 4 Fundamental Issue Addressed 7 Database Considerations 7 Methodology 9 Findings 13 Conclusions 16 Recommendations 18 Acknowledgments 19 References 20 Appendix A PCC Pavement Surface Textures in Use and PCC Pavement Surface Texture Specifications