Dangerously Designed Roads

Layout, Functionality, and Intuitiveness

As drivers, we expect our roads to incorporate basic safety features. We assume that sharp corners will be marked with an arrow sign, for example, and that guardrails will work like they should. We also feel comfortable driving in unfamiliar areas, because we know the roads will be configured in a way that makes sense. Such expectations influence the way we drive. That is part of the reason negligent road design is so dangerous – it catches victims by surprise. Here are some dangerous road features that can lead to an accident:

• Poor or nonexistent street lighting.
• Narrow roads and bridges (not enough shoulder)
• Blind corners
• Excessively steep grades
• Stop signs set too far back from the intersection or cross-street
• Roads that are not lined properly
• Confusing highway interchanges
• Insufficient banking on turns
• Low overpasses
• Acceleration/deceleration lanes that are too short
• Passing lanes that end abruptly
• No bike lanes or crosswalks where needed
• Signs or traffic lights obscured from view by other objects

Road Surface

Indiana’s road system contains a variety of surfaces. Asphalt (gravel base or full-depth) and concrete (continuously reinforced or jointed) are typical in urban areas. Choosing the wrong road surface or implementing it incorrectly can lead to:

• Cracking and breaking
• Potholes
• Depressions
• Ruts, ripples, and raveling
• Upheaval
• Other forms of distortion.

Note that weather conditions may temporarily exacerbate these surface problems. For example, a visible depression may not pose much risk when the roads are dry. But in a rainstorm, that same depression will fill with water, creating a hidden danger for motorists.

Geologic Data

Anyone who regularly travels between Indianapolis and Chicago on I-65 will remember the sinking bridge fiasco in the summer of 2015. A northbound bridge located between Lebanon and Lafayette sank nine inches in less than 48 hours, prompting a complete shutdown. For a month, approximately 25,000 vehicles per day were forced to take a 60-mile detour. Experts later determined that the original bridge design did not account for soil conditions and an underground artesian spring.

Catastrophic failure may have been averted, but the faulty bridge still claimed victims – there were a number of serious accidents and fatalities along the detour route that summer.

Traffic Patterns and Population Growth

Under normal traffic loads, an asphalt road might last 20 years. A concrete road might last 35 years. But when city planners fail to accurately anticipate local increases in road use, problems will come about much sooner. Even worse, money for “premature road decay” is the last thing you are likely to see in a government budget, meaning repair work will not occur right away.