Selection of Safe Roadside Cross Sections
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158 P. OBOx 72 BOISE, ID 83707 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM REPORT 1 58 SELECTION OF SAFE ROADSIDE CROSS SECTIONS TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 1975 Officers MILTON PIKARSKY, Chairman HAROLD L. MICHAEL, Vice Chairman W. N. CAREY, JR., Executive Director Executive Committee HENRIK E. STAFSETH, Executive Director, American Assn. of State Highway and Transportation Officials (ex officio) NORBERT T. TIEMANN, Federal Highway Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) ASAPH H. HALL, Acting Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) HARVEY BROOKS, Chairman, Commission on Sociotechnical Systems, National Research Council WILLIAM L. GARRISON, Director, Inst. of Transp. and Trafllc Eng., University of California (ex officio, Past Chairman 1973) JAY W. BROWN, Director of Road Operations, Florida Department of Transportation (ex officio, Past Chairman 1974) GEORGE H. ANDREWS, Director, Washington State Department of Highways MANUEL CARBALLO, Deputy Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Transportation L. S. CRANE, Executive Vice President (Operations), Southern Railway System JAMES M. DAVEY, Managing Director, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI, Vice President and General Manager, Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation ALFRED HEDEFINE, Senior Vice President, Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade and Douglas ROBERT N. HUNTER, Chief Engineer, Missouri State Highway Commission SCHEFFER LANG, Assistant to the President, Association of American Railroads BENJAMIN LAX, Director, Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology DANIEL McFADDEN, Professor of Economics, University of California HAROLD L. MICHAEL, School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University D. GRANT MICKLE, Highway Users Federation for Safety and Mobility JAMES A. MOE, Executive Engineer, Hydro and Co,nmunity Facilities Division, Bechtel, Inc. MILTON PIKARSKY, Chairman of the Board, Chicago Regional Transit Authority J. PHILLIP RICHLEY, Vice President (Transportation), Dalton, Dalton, Little and Newport RAYMOND T. SCHULER, Commissioner, New York State Department of Transportation WILLIAM K. SMITH, Vice President (Transportation), General Mills R. STOKES, Executive Director, American Public Transit Association PERCY A. WOOD, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, United Air Lines NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Advisory Committee MILTON PIKARSKY, Chicago Regional Transit Authority (Chairman) HAROLD L. MICHAEL, Purdue University HENRIK E. STAFSETH, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials NORBERT T. TIEMANN, U.S. Department of Transportation HARVEY BROOKS, National Research Council WILLIAM L. GARRISON, University of California JAY W. BROWN, Florida Department of Transportation W. N. CAREY, JR., Transportation Research Board General Field of Special Projects Advisory Panel for Project 20-7 J. FREIDENRICH, New Jersey Dept. of Transportation (Chairman) JAMES F. SHUGRUE, Connecticut Department of Transportation ROBERT J. DATEL, California Dept. of Transportation CHARLES E. SHUMATE, Colorado Division of Highways HOWARD E. GUNNERSON, Iowa Dept. of Transportation W. J. WILKES, Federal Highway Administration JOHN E. HARWOOD, Virginia Dept. of Highways and Transporta- JOHN P. WOODFORD, Michigan Dept. of State Highways and tion Transportation WILSON J. LINDSAY, Federal Highway Administration G. B. PILKINGTON, II, Federal Highway Administration THOMAS D. MORELAND, Georgia Dept. of Transportation ROY C. EDGERTON, Transportation Research Board Program Staff K. W. HENDERSON, JR., Program Director DAVID K. WITHEFORD, Assistant Program Director HARRY A. SMITH, Projects Engineer LOUIS M. MAcGREGOR, Administrative Engineer ROBERT E. SPICHER, Projects Engineer JOHN E. BURKE, Projects Engineer HERBERT P. ORLAND, Editor R. IAN KINGHAM, Projects Engineer PATRICIA A. PETERS, Associate Editor ROBERT J. REILLY, Projects Engineer EDYTHE T. CRUMP, Assistant Editor NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM 158 REPORT SELECTION OF SAFE ROADSIDE CROSS SECTIONS GRAEME D. WEAVER, EUGENE L. MARQUIS, AND ROBERT M. OLSON TEXAS A & M UNIVERSITY COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS RESEARCH SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF STATE HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS IN COOPERATION WITH THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION AREAS OF INTEREST: HIGHWAY DESIGN HIGHWAY SAFETY TRAFFIC CONTROL AND OPERATIONS TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL WASHINGTON, D.C. 1975 NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP Report 158 Systematic, well-designed research provides the most ef- Project 20-7 FY '69, '70, '72, '73 fective approach to the solution of many problems facing ISBN 0-309-02335-1 highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway L. C. Catalog Card No. 75-27969 problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with Price: $4.40 their state universities and others. However, the accelerat- ing growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators Notice of the American Association of State Highway and Trans- The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the portation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the highway research program employing modern scientific Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council, acting in behalf of the techniques. This program is supported on a continuing National Academy of Sciences. Such approval reflects the Governing basis by funds from participating member states of the Board's judgment that the program concerned is of national impor- Association and it receives the full cooperation and support tance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and re- sources of the National Research Council. of the Federal Highway Administration, United States The members of the advisory committee selected to monitor this Department of Transportation. project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance The Transportation Research Board of the National Re- of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and con- search Council was requested by the Association to admin- clusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that ister the research program because of the Board's recog- performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the advisory committee, they are not necessarily those nized objectivity and understanding of modern research of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Coun- practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose cil, the National Academy of Sciences, or the program sponsors. Each report is reviewed and processed according to procedures as: it maintains an extensive committee structure from established and monitored by the Report Review Committee of the which authorities on any highway transportation subject National Academy of Sciences. Distribution of the report is ap- may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and proved by the President of the Academy upon satisfactory comple- tion of the review process. cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental The National Research Council is the principal operating agency of agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to its the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of parent organization, the National Academy of Sciences, a Engineering, serving government and other organizations. The Transportation Research Board evolved from the 54-year-old High- private, nonprofit institution, is an insurance of objectivity; way Research Board. The TRB incorporates all former HRB it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of special- activities but also performs additional functions under a broader ists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings scope involving all modes of transportation and the interactions of transportation with society. of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and trans- portation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each 'year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the Academy and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Trans- portation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies Published reports of the are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Ad- NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM ministration and surveillance of research contracts are responsibilities of the Academy and its Transportation are available from: Research Board. Transportation Research Board The needs for highway research are many, and the National National Academy of Sciences Cooperative Highway Research Program can make signifi- 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. cant contributions to the solution of highway transportation Washington, D.C. 20418 problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however,