West Virginia 2007 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.
West Virginia
5% Report
August 2007
States are now required to report on at least 5% of the highway locations exhibiting the most severe safety needs. WVDOH's crash data base is capable of analyzing data on all public roads and is capable of ranking routes' severity relative to fatal and serious injury crashes. WVDOH has developed lists of locations with higher than statewide average K+A (fatality and Type A injury) crash rates using countywide roadway segments. West Virginia used preliminary criteria of routes with average daily traffic volumes of 400 vehicles or greater (consistent with those roads not categorized as low volume). The three year data period from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006 was used.
The guidance generated in April 2006 on the 5% Reports indicates that potential remedies, estimated costs, and impediments to implementation of the remedies should be developed for the 5% most severe locations on each list. Detailed estimates have not yet been developed; however, a table with general remedies and unrefined costs that are based on crash data is listed. Table 18 shows these potential remedies, estimated costs, and impediments to implementing these remedies for several of the crash criteria evaluated. These are simply rough estimates at best, and will need to be refined as WVDOH works to develop construction projects for identified "safety needs" routes and coordinates with other highway safety agencies to develop programs and strategies to address problems that may not lend themselves to non-traditional engineering solutions. During fiscal year 2008 detailed estimates will be developed and appropriate projects programmed.
Tables 19 through 22 are lists of the top 5% of Interstate, Expressway, Non-Expressway US and WV Routes, and County Routes with rates of fatal or type A injury crashes above the statewide average per hundred million vehicle miles of travel, respectively. Separate lists were developed for each classification to avoid a list that only reflected the lowest classification, since this class typically has higher rates than all of the other classes. Another reason for separating County Routes into a separate list is so that it can be used in conjunction with the High Risk Rural Roads Program. Many of the projects programmed through the HRRRP will be on routes found on the 5% Report list.
The upcoming safety effectiveness evaluation report (referenced in the HSIP-HES portion of this overall report) will contain information on types of safety projects commonly funded through the highway safety programs. Estimated costs of improvements, effectiveness of past years' projects, and average benefit/cost ratios will be included in the report. Future project costs are not expected to differ significantly from the estimated costs listed in the report. Findings of the safety effectiveness evaluation report will be taken into consideration when evaluating potential remedies to the hazardous locations identified on the 5% list. However, WVDOH is embarking on many new countermeasures, that while tried in some other States, (where some cost information will be available) have not been implemented in West Virginia so state and terrain specific costs have not yet been fully realized. As we proceed with these projects and complete the SHSP, project initiatives and cost data will be better defined and incorporated into future annual reports.
Table 18- 5% Plan
Highway Segments Exhibiting the Most Severe Safety Needs
(Top 5%)
| Location | Problems | Potential Remedies | Estimated Costs | Implementation Impediments | Comments | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | Education and Enforcement | ||||||
| I-77 | Mercer Co. | Wet Weather Crashes, Speeding/Aggressive Driving | Resurface, Speed/Aggressive Driving Enforcement | $3,400,000 | $100,000 | No legal definition of Aggressive Driving, Police Availability | |
| US 340 | Jefferson Co. | Speeding/Aggressive Driving, At-Grade Intersections | Speed/Aggressive Driving Enforcement, Intersection Improvements | $900,000 | $100,000 | No legal definition of Aggressive Driving, Police Availability | |
| US 60 W | Cabell Co. | At-Grade Intersections, Parking Areas | Intersection Improvements, Clearly Mark or Restrict Parking | $100,000 | |||
| WV 61 | Raleigh Co. | Speeding through curves | Additional Curve Warning Signs | $10,000 | |||
| WV 94 | Kanawha Co. | Head On Crashes, Rear End Crashes | Centerline Rumble Strips, RPMS, Intersection and Curve Warning Signs | $75,000 | |||
| WV 635 | McDowell Co. | Wet Weather Crashes, Speeding through curves | High Friction Surface Treatment, Additional Curve Warning Signs | $50,000 | |||
| WV 67 | Brooke Co. | Speeding through curves | Additional Curve Warning Signs | $20,000 | |||
| WV 307 | Raleigh Co. | Wet Weather Crashes, Speeding/Aggressive Driving, Curves, Low Seatbelt Use | High Friction Surface Treatment, Additional Curve Warning Signs, Education | $100,000 | $15,000 | No legal definition of Aggressive Driving, Police Availability, No primary seatbelt law | |
| WV 310 | Taylor Co. | Wet Weather Crashes, Nighttime Crashes, Speeding through curves | High Friction Surface Treatment, RPMS, Edgeline Rumble Stripes, Additional Curve Warning Signs | $150,000 | |||
| WV 9 | Hampshire Co. | Loss of Control in Curves | Additional Curve Warning Signs | $10,000 | |||
| US 250 | Taylor Co. | Wet Weather Crashes, Speeding through curves | High Friction Surface Treatment, Additional Curve Warning Signs | $100,000 | |||
Table 19
Top 5% of Interstate Routes Experiencing a Rate of Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes Greater than the Statewide Average of 8.9 Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes per Hundred Million Vehicle Miles of Travel
January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006
| Rank | Rate of Crashes | County | Route | Route Length | ADT | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18.85 | Mercer | I 000/077 | 8.98 | 29,675 | 55 |
Table 20
Top 5% of Expressway Routes Experiencing a Rate of Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes Greater than the Statewide Average of 16.1 Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes per Hundred Million Vehicle Miles of Travel
January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006
| Rank | Rate of Crashes | County | Route | Route Length | ADT | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 72.21 | Jefferson | US 000/340 | 2.91 | 29,118 | 67 |
| 2 | 55.69 | Cabell | US 00W060 | 1.47 | 16,735 | 15 |
Table 21
Top 5% of Non-Expressway US and WV Routes Experiencing a Rate of Fatal
or Type A Injury Crashes Greater than the Statewide Average of 33.4 Fatal or
Type A Injury Crashes per Hundred Million Vehicle Miles of Travel
January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006
| Rank | Rate of Crashes | County | Route | Route Length | ADT | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 194.31 | Raleigh | WV000/061 | 3.29 | 2,000 | 14 |
| 2 | 189.79 | Kanawha | WV000/094 | 1 | 10,105 | 21 |
| 3 | 151.48 | McDowell | WV000/635 | 3.71 | 1,300 | 8 |
| 4 | 124.43 | Brooke | WV000/067 | 8.77 | 1,255 | 15 |
| 5 | 120.16 | Raleigh | WV000/307 | 7.16 | 2,547 | 24 |
| 6 | 110.29 | Taylor | WV000/310 | 5.9 | 1,123 | 8 |
| 7 | 106.50 | Hampshire | WV000/009 | 1.45 | 1,183 | 2 |
| 8 | 101.29 | Taylor | US 000/250 | 7.83 | 2,188 | 19 |
| 9 | 98.18 | Wirt | WV000/053 | 8.31 | 560 | 5 |
Table 22
Top 5% of County Routes Experiencing a Rate of Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes Greater than the Statewide Average of 46.2 Fatal or Type A Injury
Crashes per Hundred Million Vehicle Miles of Travel
January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2006
| Rank | Rate of Crashes | County | Route | Route Length | ADT | Number of Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 801.09 | Kanawha | CR 021/024 | 1.06 | 430 | 4 |
| 2 | 424.76 | Raleigh | CR 018/001 | 1.29 | 500 | 3 |
| 3 | 353.97 | Monongalia | CR 019/025 | 1.29 | 600 | 3 |
| 4 | 345.93 | Kanawha | CR 021/028 | 1.32 | 600 | 3 |
| 5 | 309.17 | Putnam | CR 035/008 | 1.2 | 3,200 | 13 |
| 6 | 308.58 | Marion | CR 072/001 | 3.06 | 677 | 7 |
| 7 | 300.41 | Taylor | CR 073/073 | 1.33 | 1,600 | 7 |
| 8 | 281.86 | Wood | CR 000/024 | 1.44 | 450 | 2 |
| 9 | 247.94 | Wood | CR 021/002 | 2.21 | 500 | 3 |
| 10 | 240.64 | Kanawha | CR 060/018 | 1.09 | 696 | 2 |
| 11 | 232.38 | Cabell | CR 000/058 | 2.62 | 450 | 3 |
| 11 | 232.38 | Jefferson | CR 032/001 | 1.31 | 600 | 2 |
| 12 | 226.45 | Logan | CR 003/002 | 4.25 | 664 | 7 |
| 13 | 223.74 | Kanawha | CR 017/001 | 1.69 | 725 | 3 |
| 14 | 220.59 | Roane | CR 000/040 | 2.07 | 600 | 3 |
| 15 | 211.44 | Greenbrier | CR 000/036 | 2.83 | 610 | 4 |
| 16 | 205.20 | Cabell | CR 060/021 | 4.24 | 525 | 5 |
| 17 | 203.17 | Wayne | CR 037/013 | 1.99 | 452 | 2 |
| 18 | 203.00 | Fayette | CR 000/012 | 3.26 | 690 | 5 |
| 19 | 194.31 | Berkeley | CR 000/038 | 1.43 | 986 | 3 |
