# Presentation: 771142

## Work Zone Operations

- MO/KS Chapter, ACPA
- 20th Annual P.C. Concrete Paving Conference
- Kansas City, Missouri
- March 8-9, 2000
- Phillip Ditzler, P.E.
- Work Zone Operations Team Leader
- FHWA, Office of Transportation Operations
- Washington, D.C.

## Presentation Overview

**FHWA Headquarters Organizational Structure**
**Background **
**“****Meeting the Customer’s Needs for Mobility and Safety During Construction and Maintenance Operations”**
**Current Activities**

## Headquarters Restructuring

**Core Business Units (CBUs)**

**Service Units**

**Operations**

**Safety**

** ****ITS**
** ****JPO**

** **

**Federal Lands Highway**

**Environment & Planning**

** **

**Infrastructure**

**   ****PRODUCT                 TEAMS**

## OPERATIONS CBU

**ITS Joint Program Office**

**Office of**
**Freight Management & Operations**

**Office of**
**Transportation Operations**

**Office of**
**Travel Management**

**OPERATIONS CBU**

**Office of**
**Operations Technology Services**

**Operations**
**Program**
**Manager /**
**Director, ITS JPO**

## Office ofTransportation Operations

**Work Zone Operations**
**Weather & Winter Mobility**
**MUTCD**
**Emergency Preparedness**

## Q. What’s the public’s biggest complaint?

**A. The lane is closed and there’s no work going on!**

## Slide 7

## “It is the sense of Congress that many highway projects are carried out in a way which unnecessarily disrupts traffic flow during construction and that methods need to be adopted to eliminate or reduce these disruptions.”				

***Section 1090 ISTEA***

## Only 29% of respondents were satisfied with traffic flow through Work Zones 
The other 71% weren’t!

**The other 71% weren’t!**

**NQI Survey**

**WZ Fatalities/Injuries (1998)**
**772 fatalities ***
**114 non-motorist ***
**37,000+ injuries**
*** NHTSA’s FARS data**

**Safety**

## Work Zone Fatalities (NHTSA’s FARS data)

## WZ Crashes

**Majority occur:**
**Beginning of the queue**
**In the transition zone**
**Caused by:**
**Excessive speed**
**Driver inattention**

## Delay in WZs

**Motorist**
**No quantifiable statistics on an areawide or statewide basis**
**Economic losses**
**No quantified data on a national or regional basis**

## “To the public the worst thing is being delayed.  The second worst thing is not knowing why they’re being delayed.”

**...  ****State DOT ****Executive**** **

## The Public Wants Us To

** ****Get In!**
**Do It Right!**
** ****Get Out!**
** ****Stay Out!**

## National Challenge

**40% Increase in funding w/ TEA-21**
**Congestion will increase by 50% in 10 years**
**Aging highway system**
**Public demanding virtually unlimited mobility**

## “Meeting the Customer’s Needs for                                                              Mobility & Safety 

**During **
**Construction & Maintenance Operations”**

## Organizations Scanned

**26 State DOTs**
**4 Cities**
**2 Counties**
**7 Contractor Associations**
**3 Equipment Manufacturers**
**5 Toll Authorities**
**Others (State Police, GHSRs, AAA,                                                                                                                          Trucking Associations, etc.)**

## Report Presents

**State of the practice**
**State of the art**
**Model traffic management program **
**Benchmark our future actions**
**Best practices/policies (250+)**
**Menu of practical measures**

## 11 Categories of Best Practices/Policies

**Policy and Procedures**
**Public Relations, Education, & Outreach**
**Prediction Modeling and Impact Analysis: Congestion & Crashes**
**Planning & Programming**

## 11 Categories of Best Practices/Policies

**Project Development & Design**
**Contracting and Bidding Procedures**
**Specifications & Construction Materials, Methods & Practices**

## 11 Categories of Best Practices/Policies

**Traveler & Traffic Information**
**Enforcement**
**ITS & Innovative Technologies**
**Evaluation and Feedback**

## Role of FHWA

**Research**
**Technology Sharing**
**Education**
**Continuous Quality Improvement**
**Partnerships**
**Standardization**

## “NO DELAYS OR CRASHES IN WORK ZONES”

**FHWA’s Vision**

## Current Activities

- Best Practices Guidebook
- Self Evaluation Guide
- National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week
- Decision Making Tools

## Best Practices Guidebook

- In partnership with AASHTO
- A collection of highway community best practices used for improving mobility and safety through work zones
- Create a “living” document

## Self Evaluation Guide

- Allows assessment of the traffic management process/program
- A measuring tool  -  easy & ready to use
- Framework for discussion
- Encouraging Division and State DOT’s to jointly partake in the evaluation

## National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week

- Increase the public’s awareness of work zone safety
- April 3-7, 2000
- Partnering with industry & government
- Promote a common set of safety tips
- Emphasize the value of training – worker & motorist
- Share industry best practices

## Decision Making Tools

- Evaluate strategies against each other
- Perform traffic impact analysis and delay estimations
- Economic analysis
- Real time monitoring and traffic management through the work zone

## Industry
State DOTs
FHWA
Public

**State DOTs**
**FHWA**
**Public**

**Partnership**

## More Information

**Main Report**** **
***www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/bestprac.pdf******  ***
**250+ Best Practices**
***www.fhwa.dot.gov/quality/bestprac2.htm******  ***
**National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse**
***http://wzsafety.tamu.edu or Ph. 1-888-447-5556***