Investigating Roadside Severity for Army Canal Highway in Baghdad City Using Risk Assessment Models

Authors

  • Atheer Al-nuaimi Highways and Transportation Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4350-3308
  • Samer Alsadik Civil Engineering Department, College of Engineering, AL-Karkh University of Science, Baghdad, Iraq https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3285-3580
  • Harry Evdorides Department of Civil Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31272/jeasd.3064

Keywords:

International Road Assessment Program (iRAP), Road Safety, Roadside Severity, Safety Barrier Metal, Safety Barrier Wire Rope

Abstract

Roadside type is a crucial factor that affects road safety. This study aims to investigate the impact of 15 roadside types using the international Road Assessment Program (iRAP) model, which utilises the star rating system as a measure of road safety. The study, uniquely, focuses on using risk assessment models to evaluate the impact of roadside types on road safety in the case of a lack of crash data. The required geometric and traffic data were collected for two sections of the Army Canal highway in Baghdad city. The results showed that one roadside type (wire rope) improved safety performance, while others led to a reduction or limited effect on safety levels compared to the existing metal barriers in each section. It was observed that this option lowers the Star Rating Score (SRS) for section 1, driver side and passenger side, from 12.71 to 11.58 and from 12.62 to 11.42, respectively, corresponding to an 8.9% and 9.5% reduction in risk score, which was sufficient to shift the road section from Star Rating 2 to Star Rating 3. The study revealed similar results for section 2 with a different SRS.

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Key Dates

Received

2024-10-27

Revised

2026-08-25

Accepted

2026-08-25

Published Online First

2026-08-25

Published

2026-08-31

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 5 (2026): Journal of Engineering and Sustainable Development

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2026 Atheer Al-nuaimi, Samer Alsadik, Harry Evdorides (Author)

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

Al-nuaimi, A. ., Alsadik, S. ., & Evdorides, H. . (2026). Investigating Roadside Severity for Army Canal Highway in Baghdad City Using Risk Assessment Models. Journal of Engineering and Sustainable Development, 30(5), 670-678. https://doi.org/10.31272/jeasd.3064

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