Although a relatively new concept to North America, the benefits of road safety audits (RSA) are being recognized by many jurisdictions. In fact, interest has grown in the last couple of years to the point where many individual states and provinces are on the verge or in the process of integrating the RSA process into daily practice. While most of the North American experience has employed parts of the audit process, the Fredericton- Moncton highway project has incorporated the audit process from the planning stage through to post-opening of the facility. The 195 kilometre, four lane, divided rural arterial highway was built by an international consortium for the Province of New Brunswick under a private-public partnership (P3) agreement. The project's total construction cost was approximately $584 million. The provincialGovernment's project committee specified that the RSA process be implemented from the onset as a means to ensure that the highest levels of safety were achieved. The authors, members of the audit team, describe in this paper the audit process used for a major P3 project from the initial design through to the post-opening audits. Exemplary safety-related issues identified are described and the builders' responses to the audits are addressed. Nearly 600 recommendations were formulated throughout the audit process with over 90 percent resulting in design or construction changes. Difficulties encountered that are unique to a P3 model are described. Finally the resource requirements and financial implications of the audits are discussed. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E211271.(Author/publisher).
Abstract