2018 Issue

60 Ryan Kump, P.E. has worked for Sandy City, Utah, USA since 2002, and as the city transportation engineer since 2006. He has managed multi-million dollar con- struction projects and understands the needs and costs of infrastructure, particu- larly as it applies to roadways and utilities. Ryan currently plans, reviews, and coor- dinates both short- and long-term transportation elements for the city. This includes private development, capital improvement projects, and joint projects with other various public public entities. Ryan was an ITE Utah Chapter officer from 2009 to 2013 and was instrumental in overseeing the creation of an award-winning website for the chapter. He is a member of ITE. Ryan Nuesmeyer, P.E. is with WCEC Engi- neers and has worked as a consultant in the transportation engineering industry since 2013. Prior to working in consulting, Ryan worked with the Utah Department of Transportation in a variety of roles. He has extensive experience with both traffic and crash data analysis and has also managed numerous roadway, intersection, utility, and signal design transportation projects throughout Utah. Ryan earned his bachelor and master of science in civil en- gineering from the University of Utah with an emphasis on transportation engineering and project management. Kelly Harris, P.E., PTOE has 30 years of experience as a traffic engineer. He has prepared countless traffic analyses, traffic control plans, and maintenance of traffic plans. Kelly’s experience with traffic anal- ysis includes determining lane configura- tion requirements to meet future traffic demands at intersections and evaluating traffic patterns. He also has experience analyzing historical crash data to identify crash patterns and recommending acceptable mitigation measures to improve traffic safety. Kelly Hanks has been writing and editing technical articles and documents for 11 years. She is the technical editor for Proj- ect Engineering Consultants, editing and writing proposals, articles, reports, and other engineering-related documents. She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in print journalism and will soon receive her master of science degree in professional writing from Utah State University. the comprehensive costs of physical pain and quality of life differences for those involved in the crashes. The values assigned to crashes helped in evaluating the potential cost savings resulting from the reduction of crashes because of roadway improvements. The estimated societal cost of the 601 pre-construction crashes was $51.3 million. The estimated societal cost of the 363 crashes during the three year study period post construction was $40.6 million. This is an estimated savings of $10.7 million over the three-year period following construction, or $3.6 million annually. Conclusions The changes that Sandy City made to the 1300 East cor- ridor, including raised center medians, intersection and signal improvements, street lighting, updated retroreflec- tive signs, striping, road widening, and additional side- walks, were successful in improving the safety for users. An average of 79 fewer crashes occurred per year—a decrease of 40 percent. The number of crashes that occurred in the areas of concern were reduced by 38 percent per year; all crash types were reduced as well. Severity crash rates decreased by an average of 41 percent per year, with the lower severity level crashes showing the greatest decrease. Sandy City plans to make additional safety improvements to the corridor to reduce crashes in the new areas of con- cern and the areas that remained a concern. Programmed improvements include installing dilemma zone detection to reduce front-to-rear crashes at all signalized intersec- tions, changing the northbound/southbound left-turn permissive/protected signal phasing to protected signal phasing to reduce the number of left-turn angle crashes at the Forbush Lane, 8600 South, Ridgemark Drive, and Sego Lily Drive intersections, installing a pedestrian bridge from the library to the middle school and removing the traffic signal at Buttercup Drive, and installing a traffic signal at the 1300 East and the shopping center entrance to reduce crashes. By applying crash modification factors to those particular types of crashes affected by the installation of the programmed improvements, crashes along the corridor are expected to be reduced by 42 per year, an estimated savings of approximately $6.2 million annually during a 10- year period. References 1. Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). Opera- tional Safety Report Manual. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: UDOT, 2014. 2. Blincoe, Lawrence, Ted R. Miller, Eduard Zaloshnja, and Bruce A. Lawrence. The economic and societal impact of motor vehicle crashes. Washington, D.C.: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2015.