U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
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| Project: improvements to commuter arterial, including bridge widening and intersection improvements | |||
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| Planned Improvements: |
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| Project Environment: | x urban | suburban | rural |
| Project Design Stage: | x conceptual (0 to 30%) | preliminary (40 to 80%) | advanced (over 80%) |
| Project Cost: | < $100,000 | $100,000 - $1,000,000 | x >$1,000,000 |
| Project Owner: | City of Cincinnati | ||
| Road Safety Audit | |||
| Date of RSA: | 14-16 December 2004 | ||
| RSA Stage(s): | x design stage | x RSA of existing roads | |
| RSA team: | staff from Federal Highway Administration, City of Cincinnati, VHB, and Opus Hamilton | ||
PROJECT BACKGROUND:
The City of Cincinnati was considering improvements along the Spring Grove Avenue corridor between Winton Road and Clifton Avenue (FIGURES A.10 and A.11). Spring Grove Avenue and Winton Road are major commuter arterials connecting areas to the north, east, and west to I-75. Clifton Avenue is a two-lane major/minor arterial street connecting Spring Grove Road to the Clifton area to the south, and providing access to commercial developments constructed in the past five years on Kenard Avenue, a collector road.
The corridor had recently experienced a high number of crashes, putting the intersection of Spring Grove Avenue and Winton Road at the top of the City’s High Accident Location list, and resulting in an above-average collision rate at the intersection of Spring Grove Avenue and Clifton Avenue. In addition, traffic near the intersection of Clifton Avenue and Kenard Avenue had increased to a point where widening Clifton Avenue at the intersection (which would involve bridge widening south of the intersection) was being considered.
This planning-stage RSA reviewed several upgrades, including:
FIGURE A.10 RSA SITE (CITY OF CINCINNATI)
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| Spring Grove Avenue | intersection of Winton Road and Spring Grove Avenue |
FIGURE A.11 VIEWS OF RSA SITE (CINCINNATI RSA)
KEY RSA FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS:
The key findings and suggestions of the RSA are summarized in TABLE A.8.
| SELECTED SAFETY ISSUE (Number and Description) |
RISK RATING | SUGGESTIONS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | traffic signal infrastructure: Signal displays should be visible and conspicuous at all times. | D |
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| 2 | turn-movement operations and geometry: Conflicting turning movements and complex geometry increase the risk of collisions at intersections. | D |
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| 3 | driveways and access management: Movements at driveways interfere with traffic on arterial roads and intersections, creating potentially hazardous conflicts. | C |
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| 4 | road cross section: The cross section of Spring Grove Avenue includes apparent inconsistencies. | B |
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| 5 | pedestrian facilities: Pedestrian facilities need upgrading and maintenance. | C |
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KEY LESSONS LEARNED:
The RSA field review should be scheduled to coincide with important site conditions. This RSA was conducted in late December, after classes at a nearby university had ended. The RSA team was consequently unable to observe the impact of university traffic at the site. Although this did not significantly affect the RSA findings, scheduling the field review to observe typical or usual traffic conditions is preferable, since it allows the RSA team to see how regularly-recurring traffic conditions and road user behavior may affect safety.
See also the discussion of “Key Factors for Success” and “Lessons Learned” in the main text.
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