Challenge

The NCHRP Implementation Support Program, which is part of NCHRP Project 20-44, was developed to get new research into practice. The NCHRP 20-44 panel reviews applications and allocates funding for activities to implement research findings. The NCHRP 20-44 panel allocated implementation funds for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to apply NCHRP Research Report 893: Systemic Pedestrian Safety Analysis-a safety analysis method that can be used to proactively identify sites for potential safety improvements-to update their Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Implementation Plan.

Solution

Kittelson followed the systemic safety analysis approach in NCHRP Research Report 893, which included identifying roadway features and other contextual risk factors (such as land use and demographics) associated with crashes through analyzing 11 years of statewide pedestrian and bicycle crash data in conjunction with roadway, land-use, and other data. We used the resulting risk factors to screen ODOT’s highway system for priority locations, select 50 sites for further evaluation, and evaluate each site and identify systemic safety improvements to address the risk factors identified at the sites.