Crash Prediction Methods for Long-Term Work Zones

The planning and design of work zones is one of the greatest challenges faced by highway agencies, given the potential operational and safety effects of work zones and the constraints that work zones place on project duration and phasing. The AASHTO Highway Safety Manual (HSM) has crash prediction methods for many roadway segment, intersection, and ramp facilities, but none of the available methods address the safety performance of these facilities with work zones in place. As a result, highway agencies rely on judgement and past experience, rather than quantitative safety analysis, in developing geometric designs and traffic control plans for work zones. There is a clear need to better understand the quantitative safety performance, including crash frequency and crash severity measures for specific work zone features (lane closures, lane shifts, shoulder closures, median crossovers, and detour roadways), geometric design features in work zones (lane width, shoulder width, horizontal curvature) and offsets from the traveled way to traffic barriers and traffic control devices. New knowledge on these topics should be assembled into a quantitative crash prediction methodology that can be used by highway agencies to develop the maintenance of traffic plans for work zones. The methods ultimately developed should be capable of comparing the expected safety performance of the work zone to the safety performance of existing roadway prior to the beginning of work and to assist in planning work zone configurations and project phasing to limit any increase in crashes during the work period. The objective of this research is the development of crash prediction methods for work zones suitable to guide highway agencies in planning and design of geometrics and traffic control for long-term work zones.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5685
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $700000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 17-137

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Deng, Zuxuan

• Start Date: 20240521
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash risk forecasting; Geometric design; Work zone traffic control; Work zones
• Subject Areas: Construction; Design; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01919280
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 17-137
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: May 21 2024 8:29PM