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Tri-Valley Transportation Council │ 2020 Nexus Fee Update Study August 2021 │ Final 26 In addition to reducing VHD, many roadway capacity and transit projects include additional secondary benefits to the transportation system. Many of these projects will result in safety benefits, as congestion can often exacerbate unsafe motoring conditions. Additionally, specific project attributes such as modifying interchanges or widening roadways to provide additional lanes so vehicles can safely maneuver along the roadway or provide space for slower moving vehicles during peak times can also improve safety. Other common project benefits may include pedestrian and bicycle improvements either directly or indirectly. For example, interchange can often be barriers for bicycles and pedestrian, however several of the interchange projects (e.g. C-12: Hacienda/I-580 Interchange Improvements and C-13: Fallon/El Charro Interchange Improvements) include bicycle and pedestrian improvements which close existing gaps and encourage more pedestrian and bicycle activity. Based on this analysis it is determined that the planned projects identified in this report will expand the capacity of the Routes of Regional Significance to accommodate the increased trips generated by new development and thus, there is a reasonable relationship between the use of the fee for these projects and the new development on which the fee will be imposed. 4.3.3 SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS Safety projects involves safety-related improvements such as shoulder widening, installing guardrail, installing median barriers, or realigning roadway. For these projects, a crash reduction factor was calculated based on each safety improvements being implemented. The crash reductions were subsequently applied to crash forecasts for the purpose of identifying future benefits. The safety improvements considered in the evaluation are listed below: • California Highway Patrol (CHP) Enforcement Area • Intersection Improvement • Shoulder Widening • Guard Rail Update • Roadway Median Barrier • Signal Timing Optimization • Guardrails • Roadway Realignment • Speed Feedback Signs • High Friction Pavement • Retaining Walls • Increased Super elevation • Additional Turn Lanes Each of the safety elements for the proposed improvements were converted to a total number of annual crash savings in the region based on the Caltrans’ Local Roadway Safety Manual (LRSM) and Federal Highway Authority’s (FHWA) Crash Modification Factors (CMF) Clearing House guide. CMFs are based on before and after research of safety improvement implementations. They indicate the proportion of future crashes that may be prevented by implementing a given countermeasure, reducing the crash frequency for an intersection or roadway segment. In other words, a CMF is a multiplicative factor used to compute the expected number of crashes after implementing a given countermeasure at a specific site. The CMF was applied to a crash forecast which was based on 5-years of historical crash data which resulted in fatality or injury. The reduction in crashes was then then converted to annual crash saving based on Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) crash saving dollar amounts shown in Table 17.