Making Work Zones 

Work Better

Office of Operations

21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

Work Zone Challenge

Work zones are a necessary part of maintaining and upgrading

our aging highway system. The combination of more work

zones and heavier traffic volumes means work zones are having

a greater effect on roadway systems. The American public has

cited work zones as second only to poor traffic flow in causing

dissatisfaction with the roadway system. Top improvements

suggested include more durable paving materials, repairs

made during non-rush hours, and reducing repair time.

Why We Are Concerned

Unlike congestion caused by routine heavy traffic during

daily peak travel periods, non-recurring events generally

result in unexpected travel delays. Work zones account for

nearly 24 percent of non-recurring congestion, or 482 million

vehicle hours of delay.

Work zones also have adverse impacts on traveler and worker

safety. In 2002, work zone fatalities reached a high of 1,181.

More than 40,000 people are injured in work zone-related

crashes each year.

Increasing amounts of funding are being spent on capital

improvements and maintaining existing roads. In 2000,

54 percent of highway capital outlay was spent on system

preservation.

As vehicle travel continues to increase 

significantly faster

than miles of

roadway, work 

zones exacerbate the

growing congestion

problem. Between

1982 and 2002, route miles of highway increased 3.0 percent

while vehicle miles of travel grew by 79 percent. Rush “hour”

is no longer an hour. Between 1982 and 2002, it increased

from 3-4 hours to 6-7 hours. The window to work without

severely affecting traffic is getting smaller. In short, the

trend is more work under heavy traffic conditions.

What We’ve Learned

Data from selected State department of transportation Web

sites shows that 20 percent of the National Highway System is

under construction in the summer and about seven percent

during the winter months. It is estimated that over 6,400

work zones are in effect during the summer months, with a

corresponding drop in capacity of over 6,100 lane-miles of

freeway. Work zones in the winter are about half of those in

the summer.

Increasingly high traffic volumes on many highways make 

it difficult to perform work operations in or near travel lanes

during much of the day because of the traffic flow and the risk

introduced for workers and the traveling public. As a result,

highway work is increasingly scheduled for off-peak periods.

About one-third of work zones are active primarily at night.

A review of State road closure and construction Web sites

reveals that project location, purpose, and overall duration

are likely to be posted early in the planning process, but the

posting is unlikely to be updated. Information of greatest

interest to the traveling public, such as number of lanes

closed, times of closure, and estimated delay, is only reported

between 7 and 22 percent of the time.

100

120

140

160

180

1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998

Miles (Index 1980 = 100)

Year

VMT (millions) Lane Mile Index

Increase in Vehicle Miles Traveled vs. Increase in Roadway Miles

2000 2002
April 2004

FHWA-OP-04-053

For more information on FHWA Office of Operations activities, visit our web site at

www.fhwa.dot.gov/operations

Future Directions

The Federal Highway Administration

(FHWA) has defined congestion

mitigation and safety as one of its

priority areas for attention and

near-term action. Aggressively

anticipating and mitigating congestion caused by highway work

zones is one area that can have a

positive impact on relieving congestion. Real solutions come from

fundamental changes in the way projects are planned, estimated, designed, bid, and finally, constructed. A comprehensive approach to work zone management supports FHWA’s

Office of Operations’ vision of “21st Century Operations using

21st Century Technologies”by proactively minimizing work

zone impacts, serving the customer 24/7, and making use of

real-time information. The Office of Operations is championing three major shifts in the approach to work zones

using the 21st century philosophy. If implemented, these

changes can reduce congestion and crashes in and around

work zones.

Develop State and local policies that promote

effective work zone strategies

Work zone policies are necessary to support systematic consideration of work zone impacts across all stages of project

development and address the safety and mobility needs of

road users, workers, and other affected parties.

● FHWA developed a work zone self-assessment tool used

by each State in 2003 to establish a baseline of their

current state-of-practice and identify future work zone

quality improvement efforts.

Conduct a work zone safety and mobility assessment

to determine appropriate strategies to reduce 

congestion and crashes

Work zone safety and mobility assessment is necessary to

understand the type, severity, and extent of impacts associated with different project alternatives. Strategies such as full

closure, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) , public information and outreach, and incident management can be

incorporated in project design, construction, transportation

management and operations, and traffic control plans.

● FHWA developed “QuickZone,” a work zone impact

analysis tool. It estimates costs for both an average 

day of work and for the whole life cycle of construction,

and can help the user determine what times of day and

time of the year are best for a

certain project.

Develop Transportation

Management Plans that

include traffic control,

transportation operations,

and public information 

and outreach

Transportation management plans

(TMP) take into consideration all

elements of traffic management necessary to improve safety

and mobility during the course of a road project. Typical elements of a TMP would include a traffic control plan (TCP),

operational and demand management strategies, and public

information and outreach strategies. The degree and complexity of these elements in the TMP would depend on the

severity of the safety and mobility impacts on the traveling

public and the safety of road workers.

● FHWA promotes using ITS technologies in and around

work zones to mitigate impacts of work zones. FHWA

published the ITS and Work Zone Case Study that discusses the application, benefits, and lessons learned of

ITS in work zones in four locations.

● FHWA findings show the use of full road closure during

rehabilitation can reduce both work zone congestion

and crashes. In these projects, the roadway is closed,

traffic re-routed, and the contractor given full access to

the roadway with the expectation that construction time

will be dramatically reduced.

Other initiatives are underway:

● The Work Zone Best Practices Guidebook shares highway

community success stories and lessons learned with practitioners including policy and procedures, public outreach,

contracting, construction methods, enforcement, and ITS.

● FHWA, with State and local partners, is sponsoring

“Making Work Zones Work Better”workshops to share

information on new and emerging technologies and

practices focused on reducing congestion and crashes

associated with work zones.

FHWA is committed to reducing congestion and crashes in

and around work zones. We continue to work with State and

local governments, other Federal agencies, transportation

officials, partner organizations, contractors, and others to

improve work zone safety and mobility.