The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has released a report that isolates the effects of various low-cost pavement treatments on roadway safety through analysis of both flexible and rigid pavement treatments. The intent of this study was to isolate the effects of various low-cost pavement treatments on roadway safety. This was a retrospective study of pavement safety performance—looking back at crash data before and after treatments were installed. Both flexible and rigid pavement treatments were analyzed, with the majority typically used for pavement preservation or minor rehabilitation purposes. Although State highway agencies recognize that most of these treatments generally improve pavement friction, they are not typically installed explicitly for safety improvement—with one exception being high-friction surfacing, which is typically applied as a spot safety treatment.
The research was conducted as part of Phase VI of the Federal Highway Administration Evaluation of Low-Cost Safety Improvements Pooled Fund Study (ELCSI–PFS). This PFS was established to conduct research on the effectiveness of the safety improvements identified by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program Report 500 guides as part of implementation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The intent of the work, conducted under the various phases of the ELCSI-PFS, is to provide a crash modification factor (CMF) and benefit-cost (BC) economic analysis for each of the targeted safety strategies identified as priorities by the PFS States. Under the effort described herein, CMFs and BC ratios were developed for various low-cost pavement treatments. To read this report in PDF form, please go to: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/14065/14065.pdf.