Guidelines for Work Zone Barrier Use on Freeways

Longitudinal continuous barriers are often used in long-term work zones on Texas freeways as a means to protect workers from the travelling public. Although their use provides clear safety benefits, their placement very near or at the edge of the travel lanes and for long stretches, can create difficulties in navigation for certain road users, especially large trucks and emergency personnel. Therefore, a need exists for understanding the state-of-the-practice pertaining to what specific features and factors are being used by work zone designers in positive protection use decision-making. Additionally, various stakeholders input needs to be gathered to determine the key issues these road users are experiencing when navigating through work zones. The objectives of this research are to [1] Conduct a crash investigation to identify crash contributing factors associated with work zone barrier use, [2] Conduct interviews with key construction personnel to identify the state-of-the-practice in barrier use and other design criteria for freeway work zones, [3] Conduct interviews with trucking industry and law enforcement representatives to identify these road users perceived difficulties in travelling through various types of work zones with barriers, and [4] Develop a set of guidelines on work zone barrier use for implementation by the TxDOT.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/project=7020

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $24104
• Contract Numbers:

  0-7020

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  5304 Flanders Drive, Suite A
  Baton Rouge, LA  United States  70808

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Managing Organizations:

  Texas Department of Transportation

  125 E. 11th Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-2483
• Project Managers:

  Steele, Joanne

• Performing Organizations:

  Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI)

  400 Harvey Mitchell Parkway South
  Suite 300
  College Station, TX  United States  77845-4375
• Principal Investigators:

  Rista, Emira

• Start Date: 20190726
• Expected Completion Date: 20200831
• Actual Completion Date: 20201130

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Barriers (Roads); Crash causes; Crash tests; State of the practice; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control
• Subject Areas: Construction; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01715963
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Texas Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 0-7020
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 10 2019 5:46PM