This report provides information on year 2 activities for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Project 0-4048 including: characteristics of animal crashes and potential treatments; additional insight into characteristics of crashes on low-volume, rural two-lane highways using information provided by officers in their crash narratives; a methodology for conducting before-and-after studies; and findings for before-and-after evaluations performed at four sites. Approximately 3800 animal crashes occurred on Texas on-system, rural highways in 1999. The before-and-after methodology used in this project involves a 16-step process in which researchers gathered, reduced, and analyzed information on site characteristics, crash and volume history, and improvement details.

This report documents activities in Phase III of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Project 04048, which focused on before-and-after evaluations of safety treatments installed between 1995 and 2000 at 50 locations on rural highways in Texas.

RB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 432: Recent Roadway Geometric Design Research for Improved Safety and Operations reviews and summarizes roadway geometric design literature completed and published from 2001 through early 2011, particularly research that identified impacts on safety and operations.