Making Work Zones Work for You
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) teamed up recently with the goal of "Making
Work Zones Work Better." At a pilot work zone mobility and safety
workshop held in Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 2002, 115 participants
heard presentations on such topics as worker safety, work zone strategies,
traffic management, contracting, and travel information. The event served
as the pilot for a series of work zone workshops that will be held around
the country over the next 18 months.
"The first one out of the gate is always the most difficult, but
we thought it went really well," says Jimmy Travis of North Carolina
DOT and a member of the Federal/State team guiding the workshop series.
"We had a good cross-section of participants-About 75 percent from
North Carolina DOT, 15 percent from utilities and construction, and
the rest coming from the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and Department
of Motor Vehicles. Everyone was really receptive and open to the new
ideas."
The workshop series is part of a nationwide effort on the part of FHWA
to promote new technologies, practices, and products that will enhance
mobility and safety in highway work zones. In addition to providing
lectures by experts in the field, the workshops will feature open forums
and other activities where State highway officials can share ideas that
have worked for them. State police representatives are also encouraged
to participate, as law enforcement is key to making work zones operate
effectively.
"Making Work Zones Work Better" is not just a slogan, but
a vital necessity. One-thousand and twenty-six persons were killed in
work zones in the United States in 2000, with drivers and passengers
accounting for roughly 84 percent of that total. "Traffic is growing,
congestion is growing, and there are more work zones set up during the
repair of our aging highways. More work zones plus more congestion equals
more delay and more driver frustration. We need to maximize availability
and minimize user impacts. It's more important than ever that our approach
to work zones be studied and improved upon," says FHWA's Marianna
Rizzo. "There's a common misconception that it's the workers who
are most often injured or killed in work zones, but the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System statistics
show it's really the driving public."
Mobility and safety are not the only important work zone issues covered
in the workshop: Lower user costs, better planning and management of
corridors, and better traffic management are among the benefits States
can receive through improving work zones.
The North Carolina workshop featured such topics as "Making Work
Zones More Enforcement Friendly" and "Innovative Traffic Control
Devices for Improving Safety at Rural Work Zones." A presentation
on the "Dynamic Late Merge Concept" described how this new
concept integrates conventional lane closure merge control with the
late merge approach, which is designed to encourage drivers to remain
in their lanes until the merge point at the lane closure taper. This
integration is based on real-time measurements of traffic conditions
in advance of the lane closure. Also featured was a case study of the
$26 million rehabilitation of the McClugage Bridge in Illinois, which
relied on a combination of moveable barrier and interactive traffic
management systems to reduce traffic delays. The barrier was moved twice
daily to provide two lanes of travel in the direction of peak hour traffic
flow. Meanwhile, the portable traffic management system supplied motorists
with real-time delay information and suggested alternate routes when
backups occurred.
Presenters also assessed new technologies and contracting techniques,
including the Wizard CB Alert System, which uses a CB radio transmitter
to alert CB users that they are approaching a work zone with a lane
closure; intrusion devices that alert workers that a vehicle has penetrated
the work zone; and outcome-based contracting procedures, including A+B
contracting, lane rental, warranties, and design/build.
After each session, participants had the opportunity to provide feedback,
reveal the barriers and challenges they've experienced in implementing
certain work zone methods, and talk about other approaches that have
been effective for them in the past. "We've found that workshop
participants prefer shorter presentations and more discussion time,
since that's when they really exchange the most valuable information,"
says Travis. North Carolina DOT plans to use its experience in coordinating
the workshop to help guide other States who will host future workshops.
Following the successful pilot in North Carolina, the workshop series
will officially kick off with a September 26, 2002, event in College
Park, Maryland, hosted by the Maryland State Highway Administration.
For registration details on the next workshop or for more information
on the "Making Work Zones Work Better" program, to find out
about hosting a workshop in your State, or to obtain a CD-ROM copy of
the FHWA work zone research compendium (see May 2002 Focus),
contact Marianna Rizzo at FHWA, 202-366-9631 (email: marianna.rizzo@fhwa.dot.gov).
For more information on the North Carolina workshop, contact Jimmy Travis
at North Carolina DOT, 919-733-2210 (email: jtravis@dot.state.nc.us).
Back to top
..................................................
Articles in this issue:
Accelerated Bridge Repairs: Meeting the Challenge in Oklahoma
The Time for Accelerated Construction is Now
Workshops Explore Innovative Approaches to Accelerated Construction
Making Work Zones Work for You
..................................................
