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The Texas Transportation Commission has adopted a goal of zero fatalities on Texas roadways by 2050. Recognizing that new methods would be needed to reach this goal, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) retained the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to develop scoring tools that can be used to evaluate the effects of geometric, traffic control and roadside design elements on safety. The initial effort focused on two-lane and multi-lane rural roadway projects because a disproportionate number of fatalities and serious injuries occur on these roads.
The scoring tool incorporates quantified effects of changes in design parameters such as lane and shoulder width, horizontal and vertical curve geometry, rumble strips, and clearances to objects, thereby allowing project developers to examine the effects and tradeoffs involved in design decisions. Developed in a user-friendly, familiar spreadsheet format, the tool is not designed or intended to make decisions for the project developer, but rather to provide an objective, data-driven aid that allows the designer to assess and evaluate how changes in design parameters can affect safety. Feedback is provided through a visualization tornado-chart graph, dubbed the “Vortex of Safety,” which provides a proportional representation of the effect of design changes, and focuses the analyst on the primary means to improve safety in a project.