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May 2008
Lane-conversion ‘webinar’ draws wide audience
Keith Knapp
A CTS seminar broadcast over the Web on March 20 attracted 48 remote participants interested in three-lane conversions. Participants logged in from Virginia, Florida, Michigan, South Dakota, Ohio, Louisiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and another 10 attended the event on the Minneapolis campus.
This was the second time that Keith Knapp, research manager for the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS), presented this topic at a CTS Research Seminar. The first time was at the February meeting of the CTS Safety and Traffic Flow Council, which drew nearly 40 attendees. News of the first seminar spread through a national e-mail list of traffic engineers, which led to the decision to host a second seminar—or in this case, “webinar.”
“Keith graciously agreed to present the same topic twice,” says Linda Preisen, CTS research administration director. “He shared a wealth of information.”
Four-lane undivided highways passing through small towns often have poor safety records, characterized by collisions between left-turning vehicles and oncoming traffic in the opposite lanes. Converting to three lanes with a central two-way turn lane is one solution frequently considered by transportation agencies. But while conversion to three lanes can provide advantages to local stakeholders, Knapp cautioned that careful planning is necessary to carry out a successful conversion.
Throughout his presentation, Knapp drew a distinction between feasibility and desirability. While a conversion may be feasible in many locations, he said, careful analysis is required to determine whether a three-lane crosssection is really desirable in the context of local traffic needs.
CERS, which was established by the 2005 federal transportation act, is a program led by Lee Munnich of the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs in cooperation with CTS (www.ruralsafety.umn.edu).
A video recording of “Four-Lane to Three-Lane Conversion Case Study: State Highway Through a Small Town,” presented by Knapp, is available on the CTS Web site along with the PowerPoint presentation.