01152291

Component

Gateway Monuments are free standing roadside structures or signage that communicate the name of a city, country or township to motorists. The placement of such monuments within state-controlled right-of-way is a relatively recent occurrence in California. As a result, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) initiated research to quantify the impacts that this type of signage may or may not have on crashes in their vicinity. To date, no specific research has examined the impact such features have on crashes. To determine whether these features impacted safety, the before-after study method using the Empirical Bayes technique was used, with reference groups and Safety Performance Functions adapted from existing studies, eliminating the need to calibrate new models. Results indicated that, on an individual basis, no deterioration in safety was observed at any monument site. When all sites were examined collectively (using two different scenarios), the calculated index of effectiveness ( ) values were 0.978 and 0.680, respectively, corresponding to 2.2 percent and 32.0 percent reductions in crashes. This indicates that their presence was not detrimental on safety. In light of these results, Caltrans may continue to participate in the Gateway Monument Program at its discretion with the knowledge that roadway safety is not impacted by monuments.

01147878

10-0564

English

21p

2010

Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting

DVD

Maps (1) ; Photos (1) ; References (41) ; Tables (5)

Roadside advertising; Roadside structures; Signs; Traffic safety

Monuments; Names (Roads)

California

Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2010 Paper #10-0564

TRIS, TRB

Jan 25 2010 10:17AM