Analysis and design improvement of high class roads’ arched sections in Poland

Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 11 Narutowicza Street, 80-213 Gdańsk, Poland

^* e-mail: joanna.zukowska@pg.edu.pl

Abstract

Although Polish road network standards, in particular higher classes of roads are improving dynamically the number of fatalities on the network is still higher that EU’s average. Ensuring road safety and high maintaining standards is a complex issue and one that poses a major challenge for all road authorities. Road accidents at high speed roads characterize specially serious material and social consequences, thus research into road safety is of a special interest and numerous analyses and debates are being conducted worldwide as well as in Poland. In this paper the authors provide the results and recommendations coming from the analysis of accidents which happened on high speed roads during the heavy rainfall. The analysis of incidents which happened on sections with changing vertical alignment shows that a properly designed road geometry does not eliminate road accidents or conflicts.