Best Practices for Work Zone Safety During Traffic Control Placement, Removal, and Modifications

The overall goal of this research is to develop additional knowledge and guidance for state transportation agencies and contractors that can be used to improve driver and worker safety on roadways. The part of work zone safety specifically targeted by the research is that during the set-up, removal, and modification of temporary work zones on high speed roadways. These operations are commonly performed by contractors on construction projects and by Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) personnel when performing roadway maintenance. The research will focus on temporary construction and maintenance operations on multi-lane, high-speed roadways (e.g., Interstates 5, 205, and 84 in Oregon). The work operations targeted will be those which include traffic control to close off one or more lanes of traffic to accommodate the work operations. For example, traffic control measures may be needed to reduce free flow traffic conditions by one or two lanes to allow for repaving or restriping on the roadway. The traffic control devices deployed in such situations may include temporary signage, barriers, striping, variable message signs, radar speed signs, flaggers, and other common traffic control technologies. Temporary barriers may include barrels or cones, or positive protection such as a Jersey barrier/K rail. Both daytime and nighttime operations will be considered for the study. Appropriate average annual daily traffic (AADT) levels for such cases will be reviewed with ODOT and considered within the research when selecting specific work operations and roadway locations to study.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $186165
• Contract Numbers:

  SPR 839

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Oregon Department of Transportation

  555 13th Street NE
  Salem, OR  United States  97301
• Project Managers:

  Lazarus, Jon

• Performing Organizations:

  Oregon State University, Corvallis

  101 Kearney Hall
  Corvallis, OR  United States  97331
• Principal Investigators:

  Gambatese, John

• Start Date: 20200701
• Expected Completion Date: 20221231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Transportation, Planning, Research, and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Best practices; Lane closure; Temporary barriers; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control
• Subject Areas: Construction; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01751477
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Oregon Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: SPR 839
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 9 2020 2:12PM