Date of Award

5-2-2012

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Abstract

One of the biggest concerns that highway designers face when designing roadways is how to safely design the interface between highway users and pedestrians. This is never truer than on the Utah State University campus where pedestrian use is much higher than on an average road. Utah State University purchased 700 N, the main collector road which runs through the heart of USU’s campus, from the City of Logan in the summer of 2010. Since then, pedestrian safety on 700 N has become the first priority of USU Facilities in regards to their efforts to improve it. It has come to the attention of USU Facilities that 700 N is no longer in compliance with the current standards for roadway design (American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, 2011). In addition, the signage for pedestrian crosswalks are not in compliance with the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Highways and Streets (MUTCD), which although the regulations specified are not law, the regulations still reflect safety in uniformity concerning communicating to road users the risk of pedestrian collisions (American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, American Traffic Safety Services Assosiation, Federal Highway Administration, Institute of Transportation Engineers, 2009). Section 2B.11 clearly defines the regulations for design of traffic control devices related to pedestrian crossings, which 700 N is in violation of; more will be discussed about this later. These violations of the regulations regarding traffic control and the geometric design of the roadway are not punishable by law, however they do point out safety violations that should be addressed by USU facilities in order to increase pedestrian safety.

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Faculty Mentor

Dr. Wynn Walker