Facilitating Incident Management Strategies on Freeways (0-1848-1)

Traffic incidents on Texas' urban highways are becoming an increasing source of delay, congestion, safety problems, and poor air quality. An effective incident management program can significantly reduce the effects of incidents on freeways. Many incident management strategies are dependent upon some aspect of geometric design. For example, the travel time required for emergency vehicles to reach the site of the incident is affected by accessibility to the incident. Providing freeway features such as emergency crossovers, median barrier gates, or refuge areas may enable emergency personnel to respond to the incident in a more safe and timely manner.|The objective of this research project was to develop geometric design guidelines to accommodate incident management strategies. The research team's approach to this project included a review of existing literature, a survey of those involved in incident management, and on-site visits to existing locations that have implemented certain incident management strategies. Results from these efforts are combined with existing geometric design principles to develop guidelines for accommodating incident management strategies.