Incorporating Highway Safety Factors into Provincial Highway Investment Decision-Making in Saskatchewan, Canada

摘要

Network level highway investment normally considers infrastructure's current level of service and future demand based on forecasted traffic growth. Safety improvement initiatives are normally designed to address identified specific substantive safety concerns. It is often the case that substantive safety at highway locations may not correlate to nominal safety. Rural communities relying on low standard roads often feel that their safety concerns may not be adequately considered in the investment decision-making process. There may not be a quantitative relationship between road conditions and substantive safety, however, upgrading low standard roads will certainly improve their nominal safety and address public perception of road safety concerns. It is a challenge in decision-making to balance the investment needs of economic growth demand and community safety concerns. Saskatchewan has developed rural highway strategies to guide capital investment to maximize social and economic benefits. The strategies utilize a multifactor evaluation method to prioritize highway upgrading investment. In addition to economic and traffic considerations, quantifiable road safety factors reflecting both substantive and nominal safety are incorporated into the strategies. Successful incorporation of these factors most concerned for rural highways has made the strategies more acceptable to the public.