Estimation of collision reductions resulting from the re-development of the New Brunswick Trans-Canada Highway
Loading...
Files
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of New Brunswick
Abstract
Between 1998 and 2007, the Trans-Canada Highway through New Brunswick underwent major re-development through the execution of two Public Private Partnership projects. The re-development involved both re-alignment of sections of the Trans-Canada Route 2, as well as upgrades to some of the existing 2-lane alignment (i.e. “twinning”). By 2007, the entire Route 2 was a fully access controlled, four-lane divided facility with a design speed of 120 km/h. Although it was believed that the safety performance of Route 2 had improved as a result of the upgrades, no analyses had been performed to quantify the net outcome. This research study undertook an analysis of collisions on Route 2 over 5-year periods before and after the major upgrade projects were performed.
The results of the research found that the rate of total collisions on Route 2 reduced from an average of 0.503 collisions per million-vehicle-kilometres (collisions/mvkm) to an average of 0.419 collisions/mvkm between the “before” and “after” study periods. The rate of injury and fatal collisions were significantly reduced from 0.137 collisions/mvkm to 0.089 collisions/mvkm and from 0.014 collisions/mvkm to 0.007 collisions/mvkm between the two study periods, respectively. The proportion of injury and fatal collisions reduced from 28 % to 22 % and from 3 % to 1 % between the two study periods, respectively. Annual reductions in injury and fatal collisions were estimated at 15 and 8 collisions per year, respectively. An economic analysis was also performed to estimate the safety benefits of the new facility. A cost savings rate of $48,981 per million-vehicle-kilometres was estimated that equates to an average annual cost savings of $44,438,000 per year.