Access Management
Access management is the systematic control of the location, spacing, design, and operation of driveways, median openings, interchanges, and street connections to a roadway. National research has demonstrated multiple benefits associated with good access management. The chief goal of access management planning is to reduce the number and severity of conflicts between through moving traffic and traffic attempting to access adjacent land development. Successfully managing these conflicts can result in fewer automobile and pedestrian accidents, reduced congestion, and preservation of public investment in the road network.
Since 2005 ARC has supported access management by requiring all new roadway projects funded with L230 transportation funds that increase capacity for single-occupancy vehicles to develop an access management plan during the planning phase of the project. The road projects in the Envision6 RTP that fall under this requirement are:
- DK-065C: Panola Rd Segment 3 from Thompson Mill Rd to Fairington Road
- DK-065E: Panola Rd Segment 5 from Snapfinger Woods Dr to SR 12 (Covington Hwy)
- DK-328: Lithonia Industrial Blvd Extension – Phase II from Hillandale Dr to Evans Mill Rd
- DK-330: Turner Hill Rd from Mall Pkwy to 1500 feet west of McDaniel Mill Rd
- FA-236A: East Fayetteville Bypass Segment 1 from South Jeff Davis De to SR 54 (Fayetteville Rd)
- GW-309: West Liddell Road/Club Dr Connector from Steve Reynolds Blvd to Satellite Blvd (includes I-85 bridge)
Access Management Planning Requirements for L230 Funded Roadway Capacity Projects (PDF)
Corridor Access Management Examples:
Access management planning occurs at state, regional, local, and individual corridor levels. Generally, as the jurisdictional area gets smaller the plans get more specific in the details. The following two documents are real world examples of corridor level access management plans. Although the desire outcomes are generally the same, these two plans vary in the methods used to accomplish the goal.
Regional Examples
National Examples
- Iowa US 6 Access Management Agreement (PDF) - This agreement takes a relatively straight forward approach. It establishes the locations and nature of all future access points and traffic signals along the corridor.
- Florida US 19 Overlay District (PDF) - This plan goes beyond access permitting by incorporating access management principles into development requirements along the corridor.
Additionally, ARC supports access management in the Atlanta Region through its Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) and the County Comprehensive Transportation Plan Assistance Program (CTP).
Recently, ARC sponsored a case study which analyzed two similar roads in Gwinnett County to compare safety and mobility benefits of access management techniques such as a medians and consolidated driveways. Click here to read the full document. Some highlights of the study are provided below:
- Crashes on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard (PIB) were about 30% less than Buford Highway per million vehicle miles travelled (VMT)
- Head on collisions were much higher on Buford Highway than PIB both in absolute numbers (27 to7 respectively) and as a percentage of total crashes (2.6% to 0.5% respectively)
- In the AM peak, travel time in both corridors is about equal
- In the PM peak, travel time on PIB is 2.0 min/mile compared to 2.6 min/mile on Buford Highway
- In the PM peak, the number of stops per trip are nearly identical on PIB and Buford Highway (9.3 to 9.7) but the stopped time is significantly less at the intersections at PIB compared to Buford Highway (4.5 to 6.9 minutes).
- All of these numbers hold despite the fact that PIB carries an average daily traffic volume about 38% greater than Buford Highway
Last modified Tuesday, October 07, 2008 13:36
