Vermont 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.
Vermont Agency of Transportation
5% Report of Most Severe Safety Needs
Highway Segments Exhibiting the Most Severe Safety Needs in Vermont
| Location | Mile Points | Potential Remedies | Estimated Costs | Implementation Impediments | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VT 31, Wells | 1.61 - 1.71 | Shaving a little off the crest vertical and fixing the superelevation will help reduce the number of run-off the road crashes. | $175,000 | None | Design work to be pursued in FFY07 HSIP. |
| VT 116, Hinesburg | 4.70 - 4.95 | Add a slip lane for NB VT 116 right turning traffic using an island. This will allow the stop bar on Commerce St to be pulled up and increase the visibility of NB through traffic thus reducing the right angle crashes at Commerce St. | $20,000 | None | This is being evaluated in the “Hinesburg Sidewalk Feasibility Study” by RSG, Inc. The signal project currently being designed for Charlotte Rd will provide gaps in traffic on this segment NB. Re-evaluate after this project is complete. |
| VT 22a, Shoreham | 2.37 - 2.42 | None | No crash patterns identified. | ||
| VT 107, Stockbridge | 6.52 - 6.69 | Improve the delineation of the curve. | $1,000 | None | Work already completed. |
| VT 17, New Haven | 6.27 - 6.49 | 1) Relocate East St to improve the sight distance to eliminate rear-end crashes 2) Shaving off the crest at the intersection of VT 17 and Sawyer St to eliminate rear-end and right angle crashes. |
$300,000 | Possible difficulty of obtaining the ROW for the realignment of East St. | Design work to be pursued in FFY07 HSIP. |
| VT 105, Sheldon | 3.00 - 3.18 | None | No crash patterns identified. Speed limit was reduced to 40 mph from 50 mph in 2005. | ||
| Malletts Bay AVE., Winooski City | 0.16 - 0.40 | 1) Improve the tight radius at the intersection with Elm St. 2) Improve the Pedestrian Signal at Union Street. Repave the intersection and install crosswalks on all approaches using durable markings. Replace all ped lenses with LEDs and consider replacing the pedestals with new equipment. |
$50,000 | Under the Jurisdiction of the City of Winooski. | At Union St., an exclusive pedestrian phase currently exists. The pedestrian faces could be more conspicuous. There is no crosswalk on the south approach. |
| Middle RD, Milton | 2.61 - 2.85 | Go to all-way stop controlled at the intersection of Middle Rd, Hobbs and Bombardier to eliminate the right angle crashes. | $1,000 | None | Work already completed by the Town of Milton. |
| Colchester AVE, Burlington | 0.82 – 1.0 | None | Major crashes related to bikes. There is a sidewalk and signal project being constructed at the River St intersection. | ||
| VT 116, South Burlington | 0.49 - 0.74 | None | No crash patterns identified. |
| Date of Report: | August 31, 2006 |
| Data Analysis Period: | 2002 to 2004 |
| Contact Person: | Mario Dupigny-Giroux Traffic Safety Engineer Traffic Operations Vermont Agency of Transportation 1 National Life Building, Drawer 33 Montpelier, VT 05633 Phone: 802 828-0169 Email: mario.dupigny-giroux@state.vt.us |
| Extent of Public Road Coverage: | All Roads |
Methodology:
In Vermont, crash reports are filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles by law enforcement agencies and are entered in the Accident Reporting System (ARS) database of the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
A separate list of major crashes (i.e., fatal and incapacitating injury crashes) for the period 2002-2004 for both federal aid and non-federal aid roads using the standard reports in the ARS system was generated.
Overall, there are about between 400 to 500 major crashes per year or about 1,500 major crashes for the three-year period. For the non-federal aid system, there are around a 100 major crashes per year.
It is assumed, based on the assumption that all major crashes have been reported and a report had been filed, that all public roads are being covered in this analysis.
For each road on the federal aid system, clusters of 2 or more crashes within a 0.3 mile segment using the mile marker system were manually identified. For non-federal aid system, clusters of 2 or more crashes were also identified. However, mile markers are not available for most town highways. There exists, however, a field in ARS, that contains a description of the location in the form of a street address, an intersecting street or a landmark. This field was used to make the clusters. GIS was also used to see how close some locations were to each other.
Using these two approaches, 128 locations having 2 or more major crashes were identified. Taking the minimum 5% reporting requirement translates into a minimum of seven locations to be analyzed and reported on. To identify these seven locations, the first cut off used was “at least 3 major crashes”. Then, these locations were further ranked according to their major crash rate per million vehicle miles traveled.
Note: While this methodology conforms to the FHWA guidelines for determining “most sever needs”, Vermont’s low incidence of major crashes makes it impossible to make statistically valid selections. The seven locations identified may not be considered high priority safety concerns by local officials.
