This report investigates the effect of the opening of the South Eastern Arterial Link, a four-lane divided limited access arterial road in Melbourne, Australia, on accidents in the region of the arterial using a before and after study. The link made complete a contimious radial freeway/limited access arterial from near the city centre to the outskirts of Melbourne. Four at-grade intersections are included in the link. Accident data was collected. Accidents on the arterials and local traffic areas were analysed. Relative to a control group of similar road network profile there was: a 7.3% decrease in casualty accidents, a 10.5% decrease in injuries, a 16.6% decrease in serious injuries, an 8.1& increase in travel in the area and a 14.2% decrease in accident rate per vehicle kilometre travelled. Accident cost savings are estimated at $3-4 million per year. A secondary effect area upstream and downstream of the study area was also examined and while there was some evidence of accident reduction this was not statistically significant. There is evidence of safety degradation due to the at-grade intersections on the link with 2 intersections ranking as 2nd and 14th worst in the state in terms of accident number with similar high rankings when compared to Melbourne's high volume freeway interchanges in terms of casualty accident rate per entering vehicle. (A)
Abstract