Reducing Prescription Drug Abuse in Iowa, January 5, 2011

Prescription drug abuse is the nation’s fastest-growing drug problem, as outlined by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s 2011 national plan “Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis.” The urgency of the challenge is underscored in other reports, including a recent analysis by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that said: “Overdoses involving prescription painkillers are at epidemic levels and now kill more Americans than heroin and cocaine combined.” According to the CDC, more than 40 people die in America every day from overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers such as hydrocodone (Vicodin), oxycodone (Oxycontin), methadone and oxymorphone (Opana). In Iowa, the situation is similar, at least in some ways. Prescription drug abuse is one of the fastest-growing forms of substance abuse in our state too, though its scope is smaller and on a more manageable scale when compared with most other states. The Iowa Department of Public Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, reports the drug overdose deaths of at least 130 Iowans over the last three years (2008-2010) due to non-heroin opioids (i.e., prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone), nearly as many as for the previous eight years combined (149 from 2000-2007).

Access Management Research and Awareness Program : Phase IV, 1999

Access management involves balancing the dual roles that roadways must play - through travel and access to property and economic activity. When these roles are not in proper balance, the result is a roadway system that functions sub-optimally. Arterial routes that have a too high driveway density and provide overly extensive access to property have high crash rates and begin to suffer in terms of traffic operations. Such routes become congested, delays increase, and mean travel speeds decline. The Iowa access management research and awareness project has had four distinct phases. Phase I involved a detailed review of the extensive national access management literature so lessons learned elsewhere could be applied in Iowa. In Phase II original case study research was conducted in Iowa. Phase III of the project concentrated on outreach and education about access management. Phase IV of the Iowa access management project extended the work conducted during Phases II and III. The main work products for Phase IV were as follows: 1) three additional before and after case studies, illustrating the impacts of various access management treatments on traffic safety, traffic operations, and business vitality; 2) an access management handbook aimed primarily at local governments in Iowa; 3) a modular access management toolkit with brief descriptions of various access management treatments and considerations; and 4) an extensive outreach plan aimed at getting the results of Phases I through IV of the project out to diverse audiences in Iowa and elsewhere.

Evaluation of Rumble Stripes on Low-Volume Rural Roads in Iowa—Phase II Final Report, November 2011

Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes are the most common crash type on rural two-lane Iowa roads. Rumble strips have proven effective in mitigating these crashes, but the strips are commonly installed in paved shoulders on higher-volume roads that are owned by the State of Iowa. Lower-volume paved rural roads owned by local agencies do not commonly feature paved shoulders but frequently experience run-off-road crashes. This project involved installing rumble stripes, which are a combination of conventional rumble strips with a painted edge line placed on the surface of the milled area, along the edge of the travel lanes, but at a narrow width to avoid possible intrusion into the normal vehicle travel paths. The research described in this report was part of a project funded by the Federal Highway Administration, Iowa Highway Research Board, and Iowa Department of Transportation to evaluate the effectiveness of edge-line rumble strips in Iowa. The project evaluated the effectiveness of rumble stripes in reducing run-off-road crashes and in improving the longevity and wet-weather visibility of edge-line markings. This project consisted of two phases. The first phase was to select pilot study locations, select a set of test sites, install rumble stripes, summarize lessons learned during installation, and provide a preliminary assessment of the rumble stripes’ performance. The purpose of this report was to document results from Phase II. A before and after crash analysis was conducted to assess whether use of the treatment had resulted in fewer crashes. However, due to low sample size, results of the analysis were inconclusive. Lateral position was also evaluated before and after installation of the treatment to determine whether vehicles engaged in better lane keeping. Pavement marking wear was also assessed.

Studies on Soil-Aggregate-Sodium Chloride Stabilized Roads in Franklin County, Iowa, HR-33

This investigation was conducted to study the performance characteristics of low cost roadway surfaces of soil-aggregate-sodium chloride mixtures. Many roads have been successfully stabilized with sodium chloride. However, little information is available on either the properties of the road materials or the effects of sodium chloride on the materials. The performance of some of the sodium chloride stabilized roads in Franklin County, Iowa, and the performance of some near-by nonchemically treated roads has been studied. The study of sodium chloride stabilized roads was restricted to the roads in which the binder soil used in construction came from the same source. The effects of sodium chloride on some of the engineering properties of the soil and soil-aggregate mixtures used were studied in the laboratory.

Evaluation of Rumble Stripes on Low-Volume Rural Roads in Iowa—Phase I, TR-577, 2009

Single-vehicle run-off-road crashes are the most common crash type on rural two-lane Iowa roads. Rumble strips have been proven effective in mitigating these crashes, but these strips are commonly installed in paved shoulders adjacent to higher-volume roads owned by the State of Iowa. Lower-volume paved rural roads owned by local agencies do not commonly feature paved shoulders but frequently experience run-off-road crashes. This project involved installing “rumble stripes,” which are a combination of conventional rumble strips with a painted edge line placed on the surface of the milled area, along the edge of the travel lanes but at a narrow width to avoid possible intrusion into the normal vehicle travel paths. Candidate locations were selected from a list of paved local rural roads that were most recently listed in the top 5% of roads for run-off-road crashes in Iowa. Horizontal curves were the most favored locations for rumble stripe installation because they commonly experience roadway departure crashes. The research described in this report was part of a project funded by the Federal Highway Administration, Iowa Highway Research Board, and Iowa Department of Transportation to evaluate the effectiveness of edge line rumble strips in Iowa. The project evaluated the effectiveness of “rumble stripes” in reducing run-off-road crashes and in improving the longevity and wet weather visibility of edge line markings. This project consists of two phases. The first phase was to select pilot study locations, select a set of test sites, install rumble stripes, summarize lessons learned during installation, and provide a preliminary assessment of the rumble stripes’ performance. This information is summarized in this report. The purpose of the second phase is to provide a more long-term assessment of the performance of the pavement markings, conduct preliminary crash assessments, and evaluate lane keeping. This will result in a forthcoming second report.

Evaluation of Visibeads in Epoxy markings on I-235, HR-554, 1995

In recent years, the nighttime wet pavement retroreflectivity of pavement markings has become an important issue. In a effort to continue research in this area, the Iowa Department of Transportation evaluated the effectiveness of Visibeads in the Des Moines metropolitan area. Visibeads are three to four times larger in diameter then conventional glass beads. This larger size provides for better retroreflectivity under nighttime wet pavement conditions. The areas chosen for evaluation do not have roadway lighting, therefore, making them a good choice for Visibeads. Although the DOT has tested Visibeads in the past with moderate success, it is believed that using Visibeads with longer life markings such as epoxy will improve their performance.