Evaluating safety performance of the offset diamond interchange design using VISSIM and surrogate safety assessment model

Abstract

Many existing interchanges, which were built mostly in 1950s and 1960s based on old design guidelines, have operational and/or safety problems due to the inconsistency with current traffic and pedestrian demands. Therefore, upgrading existing designs based on recent policies and demands could result in improving the performance of old interchanges. This research evaluates traffic safety and pedestrian performance of the new offset diamond interchange (ODI) as a substitute for failing conventional interchanges. The ODI design, which showed potential in improving traffic operation in a past study by the authors, was compared to nine interchange designs using VISSIM and the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) in this study to examine the safety and pedestrian performance. Overall, 324 simulation scenarios were tested with various conditions of traffic and pedestrian volumes, turning traffic ratios, traffic distribution, and truck percentages. According to the results, the ODI showed potential to be a promising design in terms of safety and pedestrian performance. However, the diverging diamond interchange (DDI) resulted in fewer simulated conflicts compared to the new ODI. On the other hand, the ODI design had a better performance in terms of pedestrian performance.

Keywords:

• Alternative designs
• offset diamond interchange
• traffic safety
• pedestrian performance
• surrogate safety assessment model
• VISSIM

Acknoledgements

The authors alone are responsible for any errors or omissions in the paper. The paper does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the University of Mississippi or the North Carolina Department of Transportation.