Buried Concrete Barrier Ends in Washington State

There are over 400 buried concrete barrier ends on Washington state routes. While buried concretebarrier ends are no longer included in standard plans, it is not well understood how vehicles are interacting with these structures. An inventory of buried concrete barrier ends was matched with crash data sourced from the WSDOT Engineering Crash Datamart and the Crash Location & Analysis System (CLAS) database for the years 2011 through 2020 to determine the distribution of crashes in location and severity. During this ten-year period, 36 crashes with these ends were reported and they included only one fatal crash and no serious injury crashes. Most crashes occurred in an urban environment with almost an even split between mainline and exit ramps

Pilot In-service Performance Evaluation of Impact Attenuators in Washington State

A pilot routine in-service performance evaluation (ISPE) was undertaken for impact attenuatorsfollowing the process outlined in NCHP 22-33. Controlled stop, rollover, vehicle mix, and secondary impacts on the roadside and roadway were evaluated as performance measures using data sourced from the Crash Location & Analysis System (CLAS) database and the WSDOT Engineering Crash Data Mart for years 2016 through 2020. Four Performance Assessment Levels, ranging from no exclusions of crash data to exclusions of crash data limited to vehicle type and speed limit were assessed. For all five performance measures, the study found no measurable differences between the performance of the major types of impact attenuators in use on state highways within WSDOT jurisdiction

Pilot In-service Performance Evaluation of Guardrail Terminals in Washington State

A pilot routine in-service performance evaluation (ISPE) was undertaken for guardrail terminals following the process outlined in NCHRP 22-33. Controlled stop, rollover, vehicle mix, and secondary impacts on the roadside and roadway were evaluated as performance measures using data sourced from the Crash Location & Analysis System (CLAS) database and the WSDOT Engineering Crash Data Mart for years 2016 through 2020. Four Performance Assessment Levels, ranging from no exclusions of crash data to exclusions of crash data limited to vehicle type and speed limit were assessed. For all five performance measures, the study found no measurable differences between the performance of the major types of guardrail terminal in use on state highways within WSDOT jurisdiction

Pilot In-service Performance Evaluation of Cable Barrier in Washington State

A pilot routine in-service performance evaluation (ISPE) was undertaken for cable barrier following the process outlined in NCHRP 22-33. Barrier breach, rollover, vehicle mix, and secondary impacts on the roadside and roadway were evaluated as performance measures using data sourced from the Crash Location & Analysis System (CLAS) database and the WSDOT Engineering Crash Data Mart for years 2016 through 2020. Four Performance Assessment Levels, ranging from no exclusions of crash data to exclusions of crash data limited to vehicle type and speed limit were assessed. For all five performance measures, the study found no measurable difference between the performance of the four major types of cable barrier in use on state highways within WSDOT jurisdiction, including three-strand versus four-strand