Are Wider Roads Safer?

The "Forgiving Highway" concept of the 1960s proposed the idea that wider, straighter freeways would be safer. Not so, says TTI.

1 minute read

August 10, 2009, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

"Even today, groups with credible sounding names such as the Transportation Construction Coalition continue to advocate for bigger roads. This philosophy makes sense for the coalition, since its membership is made up almost entirely of contractors' associations. But does it make sense for the rest of America?

Apparently not, according to research conducted by Eric Dumbaugh of the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M. Wider shoulders and larger fixed object offsets – i.e. forgiving roadway design – has a statistically insignificant effect on roadside crashes."

FULL STORY: What Can We Learn from the Dutch Self Explaining Roads?

Friday, August 7, 2009 in Sustainable Cities Collective

Transportation United States Wide Roads Forgiving Highway

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