Road Safety Audits and major P-3 freeway projects: quantifying the findings

Road Safety Audits (RSAs) provide an independent review process that has increasingly been incorporated into the development process for (typically) large-scale highway construction projects throughout Canada. While RSAs are thought to be a cost-effective means to improve safety, little is known empirically about the net outcome. This study involved comparing the RSA findings from three large-scale Public-Private-Partnership (P-3) freeway projects with similar fundamental characteristics (e.g., functional classification, rural setting, RSA team, and project budget). The RSA findings from different project stages (design, pre-opening, and post-opening) were synthesized and contrasted to develop a better understanding of the safety impacts being generated by the review process. These findings provide a benchmark that will eventually allow for the estimation of the net benefits of RSAs considering both costs and savings derived from collision mitigation. The results of the study indicate that the RSA process evolved from stage to stage, and from project to project.