Impact of speed limit changes on urban streets
Principal Investigator(s):
Gary Davis, Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo-EngineeringCo-Investigators:
- John Hourdos, Former Research Associate Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering
Project summary:
This project is using the change in speed-limit law as an opportunity to study the effect of speed-limit changes on vehicle speeds. After identifying Minnesota cities planning to change speed limits and willing to serve as research partners, a sample of roads was selected for a before-and-after study of how changes in speed limits affect vehicle speeds.
By estimating changes in speed distributions that follow speed-limit changes, while controlling for trends and possible location-based confounding effects, researchers expect new information to be produced on where and to what degree speed-limit changes are effective. This information is being used to develop guidance on when speed-limit changes are likely to achieve the desired effect.
Project details:
- Project number: 2021007
- Start date: 07/2020
- Project status: Active
- Research area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow
- Topics: Driver Performance and Behavior, Traffic operations, Urban Transportation