Urban Studies and Planning Commons^™

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Impacts From Selected Climate Variables Upon Traffic Safety In Massachusetts, Katrina M. Hecimovic

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Current literature predicts that climate change may increase both the occurrence and severity of heavy rainfall events and winter precipitation in the Northeast United States. A potential increase in intense precipitation events related to climate change would theoretically also cause an increase in weather-related delays, increase in overall traffic disruptions, a substantive shift in travel behavior, and presumably a negative effect on safety and maintenance operations of highways. This current research study examines the existing impacts from both an operational and behavioral perspective of how weather events currently impact overall safety along routes in Massachusetts. A secondary objective of the …