The Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia

Transportation Research Council, and the Center for Risk

Management of Engineering Systems, University of Virginia, are

conducting a review of how the fifty states screen and prioritize

candidate guardrail projects, particularly where there are a

great many bona fide needs and limited funds available to address

them. You can help by responding to some or all of the questions

below:

(1) Who in your DOT or elsewhere has experience in

the areas of funding allocation for guardrails, management

of guardrail inventories, and screening of wide

geographical areas for guardrail needs? (Please forward our

message to such persons and/or pass to us the phone, e-mail, or mail

address.)

(2) What recommendations do you have for a transportation agency

that is faced with many needs for new installations and upgrades of

guardrail but limited funding? (Please share your experiences in

prioritizing your locations.)

(3) Does your DOT keep an inventory/database of all guardrail

installations? (If yes, then share your experiences in maintaining the

inventory.)

(4) What databases, reports, methodologies, etc., that are

supportive of cost-benefit-risk analyses does your DOT use for managing its

inventory and needs for guardrail?

(5) What standards does your DOT employ to determine if guardrail

is warranted (i.e., any criteria above and beyond the Roadside Design

Guide)?

(6) What are the factors you consider for replacement/upgrade of

guardrail (e.g., obsolescence, height, new standards, etc)

Our website under construction for the effort is:

www.virginia.edu/~risk/guardrail.

Jeff Baker can be contacted via e-mail at

jab5f@virginia.edu or by telephone/fax

at (804)982-2072/924-0865 or in the Department of Systems

Engineering, 112 Olsson Hall, University of Virginia,

Charlottesville, VA 22903.