Researchers
About the research
For this project, Iowa State University’s Center for Transportation Research and Education (CTRE) developed the Roadway Information Database (RID). The objective of the RID is to provide high-quality roadway data that are linkable to the SHRP2 Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS) database in order to incorporate roadway characteristics into the analysis of the NDS data. The RID includes data from the SHRP2 mobile data collection project (Safety Project S04B), other existing roadway data, and supplemental traffic operations data.
Potential database users were identified to determine data and usability requirements, and roadway data elements were identified and prioritized. A mobile data collection vendor was selected using the 2008 SHRP2 Safety Project S03 rodeo results and additional evaluation. A quality assurance plan was developed to define data accuracy requirements and tolerances and outline the handling of nonconforming data. Mobile data collection covered about 12,500 centerline miles in the six NDS sites, or approximately 25,000 miles in both travel directions.
The final RID design is a simplified version of the revised UNETRANS network data model. Data are referenced to a national base map for a consistent centerline across the NDS sites, and users can employ dynamic segmentation to produce road segments with any variable of interest.