BACKGROUND

In 2022, there were 7,522 pedestrian deaths and 1,105 bicyclist deaths on U.S. roadways, the highest number of pedestrian deaths since 1981 and the highest number of bicyclist deaths since 1975, according to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In response to the rise in pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and agencies across the United States have adopted the Safe System approach. As part of this initiative, many agencies have implemented Complete Streets policies and legislation. As implementation continues, best practices for selecting, designing, implementing, and maintaining roadside features and facilities to accommodate nonmotorized and micromobility users are not broadly recognized under a variety of context. Practitioners are seeking guidance on the development of roadway features and facilities to better accommodate nonmotorized and micromobility users across a variety of context classifications, functional classifications, traffic speeds, and traffic volumes. Furthermore, roadside design guides have historically focused on cross-section elements between intersections, but many crashes involving nonmotorized and micromobility users occur at intersections and driveways. 

There is a need to develop a performance-based decision-making framework to select roadside features and facilities in various roadway contexts and provide insight on the effectiveness of new roadside features, facilities, and intersection treatments to address safety concerns of nonmotorized or micromobility users.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this research is to develop a performance-based guide to support state departments of transportation (DOTs) and other transportation agencies to select roadside features and facilities in various roadway contexts for the safety and comfort of nonmotorized and micromobility users. The guide will focus on quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the safety and comfort of nonmotorized and micromobility road users with considerations for implementation and maintenance of the roadside features and facilities.

 Accomplishment of the project objective will require at least the following tasks.

RESEARCH PLAN

At a minimum, the proposed tasks should include:

Phase I 

1. Synthesize the range of roadside features and facilities usage (including transition, intersection, and end treatment considerations), and safety and comfort performance evaluation criteria emphasizing nonmotorized and micromobility road users. This synthesis shall be performed through a literature review and survey of the state of practice at state DOTs and localities. Supplemental interviews shall be used to gain insight on life span, life cycle cost, and lessons learned for implementation and maintenance of these roadside features and facilities.
2. Identify gaps in safety and comfort performance evaluation criteria for roadside features and facilities.
3. Develop safety and comfort performance evaluation methods for roadside features and facilities.
4. Identify data sources and metrics that can be used for the performance evaluation.
5. Propose methodologies and analysis framework for the research.
6. Hold virtual session(s) with stakeholder engagement work groups (may include American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [AASHTO] Technical Committee on Roadside Safety and Technical Committee on Geometric Design members) to gather feedback from the practitioners on the selected research methodology. Stakeholder lists will be approved by the NCHRP.
7. Develop an annotated outline of the proposed guide.
8. Prepare Interim Report No. 1 documenting the results of items 1 through 7 and provide an updated plan for the remainder of the research no later than 10 months after contract award. The updated plan must describe the methodology and rationale for the work proposed for Phases II.

Phase II

1. Execute the Phase II Plan.
2. Develop a draft guide including implementation and maintenance considerations and matrices to summarize the safety and comfort performance for each roadside feature or facility in a variety of contexts (e.g., the AASHTO Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets, 8th edition, context classifications with varying speeds and traffic volumes) for different roadway users.
3. Prepare Interim Report No. 2 and participate in an in-person panel meeting. The Interim Report No.2 should include the analyses and results of completed tasks, a plan for the remaining tasks, and a detailed outline of the final research product(s). The panel meeting will take place in Washington, DC, after the panel review of the Interim Report No.2. The Interim Report No. 2 and an in-person panel meeting should occur before the Phase II stakeholder engagement work group session(s). No further work is allowed until the Interim Report No. 2 is approved by NCHRP.
4. Hold virtual session(s) with the stakeholder engagement work groups to gather feedback from the practitioners on the draft guide and matrices.
5. Refine the final guide and matrices based on received feedback and the project panel’s input.

The research plan should build in appropriate checkpoints with the NCHRP project panel including, at a minimum, (1) a kick-off teleconference meeting to be held within 1 month of the contract’s execution date and (2) at least one face-to-face interim deliverable review meeting and web-enabled teleconferences tied to panel review and/or NCHRP approval of interim deliverables, including the expenses in the budget.

The research plan will describe appropriate deliverables that include the following (which also represent key project milestones):

• Final deliverables. The final deliverables shall include the performance-based guide and a research report that documents the research process.  
• A technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” including hardware improvement strategy for transportation agencies and stakeholder communication plan.
• A slide deck with presenter’s notes that presents the research findings and conclusions that may be used in webinars.
• Communication materials including two-pager flyers, executive summary, pre-recorded training videos under 20 minutes for the guide.

STATUS: Proposals have been received in response to the RFP. The project panel will meet to select a contractor to perform the work.