Investigating How Land Use Patterns Affect Traffic Accident Rates near Frontage Road Cross-sections: a Case Study on Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas

Abstract

Frontage roads, acting as a transition between high-speed free-flowing traffic on highways and low-speed congestion traffic on local streets, have been used as the "primary design solution" to alleviate traffic congestion on highways in Texas since the late 1940's (Kockelman et al. 2001, 1). Frontage roads in Houston and the rest of Texas were designed to provide easy access to a variety of land use types located near a frontage road cross-section. However, today some land use areas near frontage road cross-sections have become heavily commercialized, which produces more vehicle traffic congestion and accidents (Kockelman et al. 2001). In this study, I propose to take a geographical approach to examining the traffic accident patterns near frontage road cross-sections. Various socioeconomic and land use variables are identified through a multiple linear regression analysis to explain why some frontage road cross-sectional locations have high clusters of accidents. The results show that a higher percentage of commercial and industrial land use, a higher mean household income, and a lower percentage of undevelopable land use have a significant influence in increasing an individual's risk of getting into a vehicle traffic accident near frontage road cross-sections.