EVALUATION OF PAVEMENT SHOULDERS

This report describes a study conducted at the University of Wyoming by Dr. Khaled Ksaibati, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, and Israel Crowe, Graduate studen in Civil Engineering. In the study the researchers examined the effect of pavement shoulders on the safety and structural strength of highways in Wyoming. The costs of adding shoulders to various types of highways was also examined. The study consisted of: selecting representative highway sections, collecting accident data on all test sections over a five-year analysis period, obtaining geometric information on the sections, and summarizing all collected data in a computerized database. A statistical analysis using the Poisson distribution was used to analyze the collected data. Accident costs and shoulder construction costs were obtained from the Wyoming Department of Transportation. In addition, a structural analysis was performed using finite element analysis and BISAR. The following main conclusions can be drawn from this study: accidents can be reduced by increasing shoulder widths and shoulders slightly .