Empirical Analysis of Crash Injury Severity on Mountainous and Nonmountainous Interstate Highways

Mountainous (MT) highways usually exhibit complex geometry features such as steep gradients or sharp curves, which can cause considerably different driver behavior and vehicle performance compared to nonmountainous (NM) ones. In addition, MT highways experience adverse weather conditions more often than NM counterparts. We examine different characteristics of crash injury severity from an MT highway and an NM highway.

One major interstate highway with typical MT terrain and another one with NM terrain in Colorado were selected for this study. A comparative investigation about the impact on injury severity from MT and NM highways is conducted. Separate mixed logit models are estimated for both highways with 4-year detailed crash data.

Incorporating 2 major interstate highways from the same region into the comparative study offers some unique strength on investigating the impacts from different causes. As a result, the study provides better insights about contributing factors and associated mechanism for injury severity on MT highways. Substantial differences in the magnitude and direction of the influence of some contributing factors between MT and NM models are observed. Some new findings about injury severity on MT highways are made possible for the first time.

The findings in this study provide scientific guidance to potentially improve the current highway design and traffic management policy on thousands of miles of MT highways in the country.