EVALUATION OF PAVEMENT SHOULDERS

The contents of this paper reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. iABSTRACT This report describes a study conducted at the University of Wyoming by Dr. Khaled Ksaibati, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, and Israel Crowe, Graduate student of Civil Engineering. In this 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 also was 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 fro