A legal requirement for any
workzone with a lane closure in
Nevada is that it must have arrow
boards to direct passing traffic. So,
Peñuelas and the team made the
decision to attach GPS devices
to the boards, meaning they could
be tracked not only by the traffic
management centre but also
with the Waze app, to
ensure both traffic
managers and travellers
were kept informed.
“Knowing precisely
where they are, as
strange as it sounds,
is really hard to do.
So, while the GPS
transmitter, being
off-the-shelf, is not
particularly cutting-edge, it
does the job,” says Peñuelas.
For the smaller roadworks
that may not close a lane
or do so for only a short
period, the impact on
congestion is less significant
but still has an effect on
traffic flow.
Non-permit work
In addition, RTC has to deal
with projects that go beyond
the parameters of their issued
permit – and even the scourge
of work occuring without a
permit of any kind.
To address these issues, the
agency partnered with Nexar.
The tech firm’s smart dash cams
were already fitted on Uber and
| Smarter Workzones
element helped to better understand
if anything was actually happening
within the boundaries of them.
“The number one complaint from
the public is ‘the workzones are up,
cones are out and it is delaying my
commute, but I don’t see any activity.
There is nobody out there’. That’s
really irritating for folks, even though
a lot of times there might actually
be good reasons for why they
might be empty.”
Haas Alert tracks the location of
emergency vehicles and can notify
Waze users of their exact
whereabouts in real time to aid
collision avoidance. “So, we thought
it would be a good idea to do the
same with vehicles in the workzones
so that we know if they are actually
there or not.”
algorithms
can detect
workzones and
inform emergency
services of their
wherabouts (right)
The annual increase in
workzone fatalities in the
USA recorded by the FHWA
Lyft vehicles in the area,
continuously collecting video data
of the journeys made for insurance
purposes in the event of an accident.
Nexar designed an algorithm for
the dash cams to detect traffic cones,
meaning those same drivers moving
freely around the Las Vegas valley
were helping the agency without
going out of their way to do so.
It meant RTC knew where work
zones in the region were but a final
in 2018 (most recent
figures available)
The number one complaint from
the public is, ‘the workzones are up,
Above: Dashcam
3%
cones are out and it is delaying my commute,
but I don’t see any activity’
John Peñuelas, senior director of engineering, RTC
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com 019
March/April 2020 Traffic Technology International
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com