Motorway design: Relevance of a systemic and integrated study in building safe motorways. The case of Norway’s E18

Ragnar Grøsfjeld

Senior engineer

Norwegian Public Roads Administration0445-08 grafisk.senter@vegvesen.no

•Traffic safety work in Norway

•Vision Zero

•The E18 project

Accidents - reasons

• Three parts and combinations

Road-user

Road Vehicles

Traffic safety

Accident reporting system

Why register?

• keep an eye on the accident-development

• identify special problems and design the right efforts

• to decide the work priority

• evaluate / measure the effect of the efforts

Several data sources:

• police reports

• technical reports (vehicle inspectors)

• hospital reports

• insurance reports

Traffic safety (cont.)

Road safety inspection

• Short-term measures

• New knowledge since the road was built

Information (road-users)

• Seatbelt campaign

• Stop & sleep

• Speak out! (”it’s not cool to be dead”)

• 65+

Traffic safety (cont.)

Accident Investigation Group

(for all fatal accidents)

• Reasons for the accidents?

• How can we learn from the accidents?

• How can we avoid this kind of accidents?

• How can we use this knowledge in the traffic safety work in general?

E18 - accidents• Two accidents where people was killed

Road Accidents 1948 - 2006

244

560

269

338

452

255

0

100

200

300

400

500

6001

94

8

19

50

19

52

19

54

19

56

19

58

19

60

19

62

19

64

19

66

19

68

19

70

19

72

19

74

19

76

19

78

19

80

19

82

19

84

19

86

19

88

19

90

19

92

19

94

19

96

19

98

20

00

20

02

20

04

20

06

Number

Number of road fatalities reduced with 50% since 1970

The risk is among the lowest in the world

Vision Zero

“A vision of no road fatalities causing people get killed or seriously injured”

KILLED

SERIOUSLY INJURED

Approved in National Transportation Plan 2002-2011

The vision Zero is based on:

• It is human to make mistakes

• The human body is sensitive to violence

The road-users of course have to follow the rules, but we also have to adjust the road and the vehicles

KILLED

SERIOUSLY INJURED

E18 project in Vestfold county

E18 Gulli - Langangen

My project:

Sky - Langangen

E18 Sky - Langangen

• 11,7 km new four-lane motorway

• Building period: 2009 - 2011

• Total cost: 200 mill. euro

– or 17 000 euro per meter

• 12 500 euro per meter free road

• 25 000 euro per meter tunnel

• 37 500 euro per meter bridge

The profile

Geometry - parametres

• Speed limit: 100 km/h

• Minimum horizontal radius: 700 m

• Minimum high vertical radius: 13 700 m

• Minimum low vertical radius: 3 400 m

• Maximum rise: 5 %

Head-on collision 41 %

Running-off-the-road 27 %

Other accidents 6 %

Same direction 5 %

Pedestrian involved 13 %

Crossroads 9 %

Injuries and fatalities by types of accidents (annual average 2000-2004)

Nearly 70 % is head-on or running-off the road accidents

Efforts – E18 motorway

• Central barriers

• Safer side areas

• Guardrail / end of the guardrail

• Raised-rib-road-marking (making noise)

• Road lightning

• Avoid dangerous elements in the side areas (or protect with guardrail)

Central barrier

Central barriers

Forgiving side area

Raised-rib-road-marking

Soil towards the rock cut

The guardrail has penetrated the car

Different kinds of forgiving terminals

ABC-terminal

ESPEN(Energy-absorbing, Steel, Plastic, ENd-terminal)

ABC-terminal after a collision

Ready for take off?

Guardrail / end of guardrail

End of guardrail

Should be guardrail….

Guardrail

High energy columns

High energy columns

Simulator – E18 project