Developing a Research-Grade Iowa Work Zone Database

The difficulty of obtaining detailed information about current and historical work zone activities is a key limiting factor for proactive work zone management. Although project plans and daily construction logs provide general information about the location and timing of planned and completed work activities, the actual conditions in the field often change very rapidly—sometimes several times each day. For example, a planned lane closure could be advanced or delayed by minutes, hours, or days based on factors such as weather; the availability of specialized personnel, equipment, or materials; or the effects of a traffic incident near the work zone. In many cases, these work schedule changes interact with real-time changes in traffic conditions, and with adjustments to the work tasks to be accomplished. For example, if a key piece of equipment such as a crane or paving machine breaks down, workers could be redeployed to another work area (or even another project) while the machine is being repaired, resulting in very different traffic impacts. The goals of this study are: (1) Design and develop a work zone activity monitoring system without creating an undue burden on Iowa DOT’s construction engineers and inspectors. This will require utilizing existing sensor streams such as cameras to identify the start and end of lane closures, type of activities etc. (2) In addition, design a database that can save other streams of data relevant to work zone. Finally compare multiple data streams to evaluate consistency of work zone datasets. The proposed work is comprised of the following tasks: Task 1. Form Technical Advisory Committee; Task 2. Develop preliminary documents- requirement document, design document and test document; Task 3. Image processing tool development; Task 4. Develop prototype online work zone activity monitoring data tool; Task 5. Prepare Final Project Report.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $50,000
• Contract Numbers:

  Add 675

  TSF-000-0(445)--92-00

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Iowa Department of Transportation

  800 Lincoln Way
  Ames, IA  United States  50010
• Managing Organizations:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Project Managers:

  Worrel, Brian

• Performing Organizations:

  Iowa State University, Ames

  Center for Transportation Research and Education
  2711 South Loop Drive, Suite 4700
  Ames, IA  United States  50010-8664
• Principal Investigators:

  Sharma, Anuj

• Start Date: 20181001
• Expected Completion Date: 20201231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Databases; Monitoring; Sensors; Work zones
• Identifier Terms: Iowa Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Construction; Data and Information Technology; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01702867
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Iowa Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: Add 675, TSF-000-0(445)--92-00
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 24 2019 1:05PM