Immersive work zone inspection training using virtual reality
Authors:   , Aati Khaled 
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule (23 CFR [section] 630 Subpart J) established requirements and offers guidance to state transportation agencies for addressing the traffic safety and mobility impacts of work zones. Personnel who are involved in the development, design, implementation, operation, inspection, and enforcement of work zone-related transportation management and traffic control are required to be trained. There has been innovation in several aspects of work zone management. For example, the use of ITS technologies and application of simulation tools for impact analysis and scheduling has risen in the past decade. Proper inspection is important in order to improve the safety and mobility in work zone. However, there has not been much innovation in the training of staff that inspect work zones for compliance. New technologies offer improvement in training effectiveness, immersion, cost, availability, and flexibility. DOT staff inspects work zones and rate them based on several criteria. Evaluation criteria ranges from proper use of signage, channelizing devices, barriers, and lighting to signalization and traffic management. Any discrepancies from satisfactory performance are also recorded. Staff on the inspection team are trained in several areas and the evaluation criteria implemented in the form of an inspection worksheet. The inspection staff also need to be familiar with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) typical applications (TA) for different facilities and work activities. Finally, an understanding of the discrepancies and deficiencies of various work zone elements is necessary in order to satisfactorily rate them. The aforementioned knowledge attainment requires robust training of the personnel, which is difficult to accomplish without ix extensive field visits (i.e., prior experience). The current state of practice is to review the documents related to temporary traffic control and reports from previous inspections; typically powerpoint files with pictures. It would be beneficial if a new mechanism for training could be developed that is as effective as field visits but without the amount of time, effort, and cost required to visit multiple field sites. In this thesis, we developed an alternative training platform using virtual reality (VR) and illustrate it using Missouri DOT data. The platform consists of two steps. The first step is a learning module which is founded on the historical knowledge gained by DOT staff from inspections dating back at least five years. This knowledge base synthesized representative inspection reports from prior years from all districts including photographs of deficiencies. The synthesized knowledge was converted into a concise easy-to-consume format for training. The second step is an immersive module that places trainees in virtual work zones where their inspection performance will be observed and assessed. Two training scenarios were created using the Unity 3D engine and the Oculus Rift VR headset. Participants are placed in the passenger seat of a vehicle that drives through a work zone. As the subject travels past various signs and temporary traffic control devices, they note any issues. A focus group study of 34 DOT staff produced feedback on the utility and usability of the virtual reality training module. Two questionnaire surveys were administered upon completion of the module. Most of the DOT staff that participated in the focus group agreed that the use of virtual reality-enhanced the quality of training work zone inspectors. All participants believed that the virtual reality module provided a realistic representation of an actual work zone. Most of the participants indicated that they were able to distinguish between good and bad x signage in the work zone. Overall, 97 percent of the participants either strongly agreed or agreed that the virtual reality was useful for training staff that inspect work zone.