Nebraska 2006 Five Percent Report

This report is in response to the Federal requirement that each state describe at least 5 percent of its locations currently exhibiting the most severe highway safety needs, in accordance with Sections 148(c)(1)(D) and 148(g)(3)(A), of Title 23, United States Code.  Each state’s report is to include potential remedies to the hazardous locations identified; estimated costs of the remedies; and impediments to implementation of the remedies other than costs.  The reports included on this Web site represent a variety of methods utilized and various degrees of road coverage.  Therefore, this report cannot be compared with the other reports included on this Web site.

Protection from Discovery and Admission into Evidence—Under 23 U.S.C. 148(g)(4) information collected or compiled for any purpose directly relating to this report shall not be subject to discovery or admitted into evidence in a Federal or State court proceeding or considered for other purposes in any action for damages arising from any occurrence at a location identified or addressed in the reports.

Additional information, including the specific legislative requirements, can be found in the guidance provided by the Federal Highway Administration,
http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/safetealu/fiveguidance.htm.

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State of Nebraska
Highway Safety Improvement Program Report
August 31, 2006

This document presents a report on the progress of Nebraska’s Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) as required by 23 U.S.C. §148(g). The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) has maintained an HSIP program for many years and has developed an efficient process for identifying Hazard Elimination projects.

The Department formed an inter-disciplinary committee to oversee potential Hazard Elimination projects. This committee is made up of representatives from several disciplines within the Department, including Traffic Engineering, Roadway Design, Highway Safety, Railroad Liaison, and Secondary Roads, as well as representatives from other agencies such as the State Patrol, Department of Motor Vehicles, City of Lincoln Public Works Department, City of Omaha Public Works Department, and the Association of County Highway Superintendents.

This committee uses output from the NDOR’s Hazardous Location Analysis program and requests from outside agencies to identify locations in need of safety improvement. Potential countermeasures are determined and proposed projects are subjected to benefit-cost analysis before being approved.

5% REPORT

States are required under SAFETEA-LU to report annually on a minimum of 5% of their locations with the most severe safety needs. Nebraska's list follows.

METHODOLOGY

The NDOR elected to use its existing Hazardous Location computer program to determine the 5% list. This program includes only locations on the state highway system and considers all reportable accidents (fatal, injury, and property damage only). It uses the Rate Quality Control Method to determine locations. Analysis is done by four types of locations (simple intersections, complex intersections, clusters, and sections). Statewide average accident rates are calculated for each of these types, broken down by rural and urban, and also by highway classification (6-lane interstate, 4-lane interstate, freeway, expressway, other 4-lane, 2-lane with surfaced shoulder, 2-lane without surfaced shoulder, and one-way). Given the traffic volume at a location, and the statewide average rate for the above category into which it falls, an expected accident rate is calculated. The actual accident rate is also calculated, and if the actual rate exceeds the expected rate, the site is deemed a significant location.

Significant locations are then ranked by severity, based on dollar values assigned to each type of accident that occurred at the site. The normal output from this analysis is the Top Third Significant Locations list. The top 5% from each of the four types of locations are included in this report. Accident data for the three years 2003-2005 were used.

The locations listed are not ranked by any measurement of severity, but rather are listed in highway number order.

5% LOCATIONS LIST

No.	Highway	Begin RP	End RP	Location Type	Land Use
1.	US-6	315.85	318.61	Section	Urban
2.	US-6	368.24	371.53	Section	Urban
3.	US-6	371.53	373.01	Section	Urban
4.	N-10	57.17	59.58	Section	Urban
5.	US-30	383.20	383.30	Cluster	Rural
6.	US-30	428.66	428.76	Cluster	Rural
7.	US-34	208.57	211.55	Section	Urban
8.	US-34	324.73	327.81	Section	Urban
9.	US-34	327.81	329.17	Section	Urban
10.	N-50	87.27	87.37	Cluster	Rural
11.	N-50	87.86	87.96	Cluster	Rural
12.	N-64	63.44	67.45	Section	Rural
13.	US-75	93.81	96.44	Section	Urban
14.	I-80	427.29	432.97	Section	Rural
15.	I-80	432.97	439.22	Section	Rural
16.	I-80/N-370	439.22		Complex Intersection	Rural
17.	N-133	5.54	5.64	Cluster	Rural
18.	US-275/N-85	184.25		Simple Intersection	Urban
19.	N-370	6.21	6.31	Cluster	Rural

POTENTIAL REMEDIES

Each of the locations on the 5% List has been given a preliminary review. Several of the locations listed are high volume urban corridors with heavy congestion, many major intersections, and numerous business accesses. It is unlikely that a single highway construction project will make a major dent in the accident problems along these roadways. Nevertheless, some improvements to these roads are being made. The east portion of Site 8, for example, is currently being reconstructed, including a major intersection. Another major intersection near the middle of this section was reconstructed with $250,000 in Hazard Elimination funds in 2004.

Two of the locations are rural sections of Interstate highway. Site 15 has recently undergone significant reconstruction to add capacity and similar work is underway at the present time on Site 14. Under the conditions examined in developing the list, these sections had a high percentage of roadway departure crashes. Reducing roadway departure crashes is one of the five emphasis areas Nebraska has identified in its Strategic Highway Safety Plan. NDOR is developing strategies for reducing these types of accidents, but at this point no cost figures are available.

Several of the listed sites are high volume rural intersections just outside of major cities. These intersections may need geometric changes or upgraded traffic controls. Depending on the countermeasures recommended, a cost of $100,000 - $400,000 per location would be expected.