Synthesis of Research on Work Zone Delays and Simplified Application of Quickzone Analysis Tool
Grant
Overview
abstract
Work zone safety continues to be a high priority of federal and state transportation agencies. Work zone fatalities increased by 53 percent between 1998 and 2002, with a total of nearly 1200 deaths nationwide in 2002. Developing traffic management plans for work zones that minimize the times that the work zone is in place help to significantly reduce crashes and the resulting crashes fatalities. The Federal Highway Administration has established programs to provide information on best practices for work zones through its web site (http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/index.asp) . FHWA has also developed decision support tools that help transportation agencies reduce motorist delays through work zones. However, a recent FHWA report noted that while "prediction models are available; . . . Current usage is generally limited to large highly visible project. States routinely use computer modeling to predict traffic conditions in work zones as part of the decision-making process on large highly visible projects. However, computer modeling is not routinely done in either the project planning or the design phase in most states."
