An initial investigation for a monitoring program for the safety performance of design exceptions in Georgia

In roadway projects, design exceptions are implemented when the project site consists of one or more substandard design elements. The objective of this thesis is to conduct an initial investigation for a monitoring program for the safety performance of design exceptions in Georgia. A total of 467 projects containing design exceptions were reported in Georgia from 1995 to 2011, and from this crash data for 179 projects from 2003 to 2008 were sampled. The crash data collected in this research pertains to all roadway segments within the projects and is not necessarily related to the design exceptions. Future efforts will be required to explore potential connections between the crash rates and design exceptions. The annual crash results generally revealed a high variability and randomness in the data. For this reason, the average 3-year crash frequencies before design exception approval date and after it were calculated to determine the safety performance for projects containing design exceptions. A method for determining expected results using the Highway Safety Manual (HSM) predictive method is also discussed. The findings will be used to guide future research on design exceptions and mitigation measures to improve roadway safety.MSCommittee Chair: Hunter, Michael; Committee Member: Rodgers, Michael; Committee Member: Watkins, Kar