QuickZone
1.0: A Better Approach to Work Zone Planning
QuickZone 1.0: A Better Approach to Work
Zone Planning How will the construction or rehabilitation project that
you're planning affect motorists? What will be the costs of traveler
delay caused by your project? What might be the effect of contractor-suggested
changes in the approved Traffic Control Plan? QuickZone 1.0., a new
software program available from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),
can help answer those questions and more.
QuickZone compares the traffic impacts for work zone mitigation strategies
and estimates the costs, traffic delays, and potential backups associated
with these impacts. For example, if a highway agency planned to widen
a shoulder, QuickZone could estimate the costs of doing work at night
instead of during the day or diverting the traffic to one road versus
another road during different phases of construction. The costs, traffic
delays, and potential backups can be estimated for both an average day
of work and for the whole life cycle of construction.
"QuickZone can help State and local traffic, construction, operations,
and planning staff, as well as construction contractors, better perform
their job by making them aware of the effect that different work zone
phasing has on the motorist from both a cost and delay standpoint. This
benefits everyone from highway officials to construction workers to
motorists and improves overall work zone safety," says Deborah Curtis
of FHWA's Mobility and Safety Integrated Product Team. The software
provides information in a spreadsheet form. A user need only have Microsoft
Excel 97 or higher running on a Windows-based PC to use the application.
To run the program, the user would enter data on the planned work zone,
such as:
- Location
- Any projected detour routes
- Anticipated volumes of traffic
- Construction dates and times.
The program then displays the amount
of delay in vehicle hours, the maximum length of the projected traffic
queue, and the costs associated with the work activity.
QuickZone can also analyze the advantages
of various strategies for minimizing the projected traffic delays.
These mitigation strategies might include retiming signals on detour
routes to help traffic flow more smoothly, planning a media campaign
to publicize the planned work zones, or using traveler information
systems that allow drivers to plan ahead and choose other routes if
possible.
For more information about QuickZone, contact Deborah Curtis at FHWA,
202-493-3267
(email: deborah.curtis@fhwa.dot.gov).
To obtain a copy of the software, contact the McTrans Center at the
University of Florida, 352-392-0378 (fax: 352-392-6629; email: mctrans@ce.ufl.edu;
Web: mctrans.ce.ufl.edu).
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Articles
in this issue:
In
brief...
Managing
DC's assets: partnership produces better tunnels
QuickZone
1.0: A better approach to work zone planning
Scanning
the globe for pavement preservation innovations
FHWA
structures lab investigates Milwaukee bridge collapse
Highway
technology calendar
