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                Media ContactsMenu OFFICE OF RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, AND TECHNOLOGY AT THE TURNER-FAIRBANK HIGHWAY RESEARCH CENTER Home
                        Research
                        Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center
                        Research and Technology Portfolio


            
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                R&T Portfolio: Disruptions
    

    
    
    
      The Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Disruptions research focuses on ways to minimize the impacts of nonrecurring traffic disruptions, such as collisions, work zones, and inclement weather. Irregular events are impossible to prevent, but their impact can be mitigated with good operations planning and response strategies.

About half of congestion is caused by nonrecurring temporary disruptions that take away part of the roadway from use. The three main causes of nonrecurring congestion are: (1) incidents ranging from a flat tire to an overturned hazardous material truck—25 percent of congestion, (2) work zones—10 percent of congestion, and (3) weather—15 percent of congestion. Nonrecurring events dramatically reduce the available capacity and reliability of the entire transportation system. The type of congestion that surprises us: we plan for a trip of 20 minutes, yet we experience a trip of 40 minutes. Travelers and shippers are especially sensitive to unanticipated disruptions to tightly scheduled personal activities and manufacturing distribution procedures.

Program Objectives:

Develop, test, and provide tools to decisionmakers that enable more effective and sustained transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) actions and programs to improve regional transportation system safety, efficiency, reliability, and options for people and goods movement.
	Make highways safer and more efficient by reducing the impacts of the causes of congestion.
	Deploy technologies that support safer, more efficient, and improved people and goods movement.

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        **Traffic Incidents**
        Traffic Incident Management (TIM) consists of a planned and coordinated multidisciplinary process to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents so that traffic flow may be restored as safely and quickly as possible. Effective TIM reduces the duration and impacts of traffic incidents and improves the safety of motorists, crash victims, and emergency responders. This coordinated process involves many public and private sector partners, including law enforcement, fire and rescue, public safety communications, and towing.

Spotlight Project: Next-Gen TIM

"Construction crew and emergency personnel standing together on the side of a road."

Next-generation (NextGen) TIM increases the focus on local agency TIM programs while integrating new and emerging technology, tools, and training to improve incident detection and reduce safety response and clearance times on all roadways.  By using NextGen TIM methods, State and local agencies can increase traveler and responder safety, improve trip reliability and commerce movement, and enable responder communities to focus more resources on other pressing citizen needs.

Image source: FHWA.
  


      **Work Zones**
        FHWA works to make work zones safer and less disruptive by providing transportation practitioners with high-quality products, tools, and information that can be of value in planning, designing, and implementing safer, more efficient, and less congested work zones.

Spotlight Project: Smarter Work Zones

"End of Work Zone sign."

As part of FHWA’s Every Day Counts initiative, Smarter Work Zones are work zones that utilize innovative strategies to maximize work zone safety and minimize mobility impacts. Focus of the project is on coordination of construction projects and use of technology applications to dynamically manage work zone impacts.

Image source: FHWA.
  


      **Road Weather**
        Research about the effects of inclement weather on highway operations seeks to better understand the safety and mobility impacts of weather on roadways and promote strategies and tools to mitigate those impacts. More timely, accurate, and relevant information about these weather-related impacts to the roads enables transportation managers and travelers to make more effective decisions.

Spotlight Project: Automated Vehicles (AVs) and Adverse Weather

"View of a hurricane from space."

With recent advancements in AV technology, FHWA is exploring AV needs, opportunities, and potential shortcomings during adverse weather conditions. The research explores how adverse weather and road weather conditions affect vehicle sensors and perception systems and how drivers react to or take back control from their vehicles, by discussing the relationship between weather and AV performance.

For more information, see the Automated Vehicles and Adverse Weather Final Report.

Image copyright: Mechanik © 2014 123RF.com.
  


      **Data for Nonrecurring Events**
        The data needs regarding nonrecurring events are unique and difficult to collect and process. FHWA is developing an operational framework for managing the disruptions from nonrecurrent events based on past and ongoing efforts related to work zone, road weather, and traffic incident data.

Spotlight Project: Work Zone Data Exchange

"A road side workzone."

The Work Zone Data Exchange aims to deploy work zone data into vehicles to help human drivers and automated driving systems navigate work zones more safely. The project uses a community-based standards development process to develop a data specification to harmonize work zone data for third-party use.

Image source: FHWA.Contact Us

**Office of Operations Research and Development**
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
6300 Georgetown Pike
McLean, VA 22101
United States

**Office of Operations**
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington, DC  20590
United States

Related Links

FHWA Operations R&D Program
	FHWA Office of Operations

    
          Last updated: Tuesday, June 7, 2022 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

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