This paper analyzes the effect of bypass construction on road safety, specifically on accident rates and their severity along both bypass segments and bypassed communities. It further investigates the effect of bypass construction on those communities' economic development through changes in the number and spatial distribution of businesses and residential development and whether these changes affect the road-safety level. Finally, evaluates the effect on road safety of various traffic arrangement implemented in such communities. The study focuses on Arab cities in the Galilee regions of Israel, using cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis and drawing from an extensive data collection. The results show that bypass construction does not necessarily reduce overall accident frequencies or crash rates. The bypass construction merely shifts road accidents from the highways(bypass roads) to inner roads (bypassed) and from through to local traffic, with no significant reduction. However, the construction of three bypass roads has led to a decrease in the severity of road accidents. The findings indicate a large variance in the effects of bypass construction on safety.
Abstract