Southeastern Idaho reduces intersection crashes by 35 percent

The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) recently published a white paper about safety evaluations that showed southeastern Idaho has decreased its number of crashes at intersections -- in overall severity and number of crashes -- by approximately 35 percent in just nine years.

Over 1,100 intersections were under the operation of District 5, the southeastern Idaho office in Pocatello. The cost of the system was approximately $170,000.

The white paper, written by Dan Harelson, the ITD’s engineering manager at the Pocatello location, focuses on skewed intersections. The paper discusses the system that was used to decrease crashes since southeastern Idaho first adopted the method in 2006.

The paper theorizes that many vehicle crashes happen at intersections, typically because drivers do not obey pavement markings or signs. To improve this, the ITD or local system manager had to be certain the pavement markings and signs were in adequate repair.

This paper will be featured as a presentation at the Transportation Research Board (TRB) International Conference on Low-Volume Roads this week in Pittsburgh. The paper also was chosen to be presented as a lectern session at the annual TRB meeting in Washington, D.C. next January.

“More importantly, it provides documentation that shows that ITD has a thorough, ongoing review for our intersections,” Southeastern Idaho District Engineer  Ed Bala said.