Highway safety is a critical concern for transportation authorities worldwide, with geometric characteristics playing a pivotal role in mitigating or exacerbating the risks. This study explores the impact of geometric features of a two...
moreHighway safety is a critical concern for transportation authorities worldwide, with geometric characteristics playing a pivotal role in mitigating or exacerbating the risks. This study explores the impact of geometric features of a two lane highway, Akure-Ilesha road, SouthWest , Nigeria on traffic operation and safety. Accident data was obtained for a period of 10 years (2013 to 2022) from the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) of Nigeria on the road under study. Quickbird satellite imagery and civil3D were used to extract the highway geometric alignment indices which were compared to standards, and the traffic operations were determined on site using manually counting and stopwatch approach. Negative Binomial Regression Model (NBRM) was also used as the statistical model to analyse the relationship between geometric characteristics, traffic operation and highway safety. The result shows that geometric properties which include pavement width, shoulder width and horizontal curve radius of road have significant effect on highway crash occurrence and traffic operations along the highway. In addition, about 80 to 90% of the geometric parameters including shoulder width, shoulder and carriageway cambering fells below established standards. The knowledge attained from this study will benefit transportation planners, engineers, and policymakers to implement effective measures aimed at reducing the crash frequency, thereby enhancing overall transportation safety and efficiency.
