If the road network was a chain,
workzones would arguably be
the weakest link. Often the cause
of much frustration for drivers,
individuals who are employed to
work on them on a daily basis become
some of the most vulnerable of
vulnerable road users just by doing
their job. The statistics speak for
themselves. The most up to date
FHWA statistics available reveal that,
in 2018, while fatal crashes on roads
generally decreased by 1.5% in the
USA, in workzones they actually went
up 3%. Furthermore, 10% of all
congestion and 24% of unexpected
freeway delays can be attributed
to construction work.
It is clear then that improving
safety and efficiency within
workzones could lead to ripples of
positivity across the wider road
network, improving both safety
and traffic flow.
Neglected research
With the emergence and subsequent
acceleration in development of
connected and autonomous vehicle
(CAV) technologies, many of our
roads’ most harmful and congestioninducing
incidents are being tackled
head on. Workzones, however, have
been somewhat neglected by the
researchers and creators of nextgeneration
traffic technology,
with attention focused on addressing
issues around more typical
road conditions.
| Smarter Workzones
The Regional Transportation
Commission of Southern Nevada
(RTC) is proving to be an exception to
this rule. It deployed new technology
to manage workzones after a unique
set of circumstances brought the
levels of construction in Las Vegas
to crisis point.
“Coming out of the recession back
in the early 2000’s – that really hit Las
Vegas hard – there was a lot of
construction, maintenance and capital
improvement work that had been put
on hold just because there was no
money,” RTC senior director of
engineering, John Peñuelas, explains.
“Later, a stimulus package meant
a lot of these projects that had been
on hold hit the ground at the same
time, so suddenly there was
construction everywhere.
“The manager at the time was
incredulous that there was not more
coordination between the people
calling the work and those carrying
it out. There was a lot of political
pressure to not only get a handle
on the workzones but make people
believe that we had – and, initially,
the perception of control really was
more important than the reality.
“But, we realised that the main
problem was simply not knowing
where workzones were at any
given time, how many lane closures
there were, whether they were
permanent or not and whether there
were any opportunities to combine
or to delay or advance work.”
SMART
WORKZONES
AHEAD
March/April 2020 Traffic Technology International 017
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