Use Research, Planning, and Tech to Keep Work Zones Safe
Trends in increased home deliveries and initiatives like the infrastructure act result in more active work zones on the roads, at airports, and on rails than in the recent past.
The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has resources that can contribute to simultaneously keeping traffic moving and the workforce safe.
“More home delivery means more delivery vehicles (trucks) on our roadways,” says Julius Codjoe, special studies research administrator at Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) and TRB Volunteer, in National Academies.
“You expect people to drive slowly in work zones, but we have seen fatalities in work zones in Louisiana,” he said. “Drivers, unexpectedly coming upon slow or stopped traffic, is usually the cause for crashes in work zones. We know the more unexpected traffic queues you have, the more safety issues that are going to come up. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) gives you a way to calculate capacity, and thereby determine where queues will form. Accurately determining this will allow agencies to warn unsuspecting drivers and thereby avoid work zone crashes.” The most recent edition of the HCM was released in early 2022.
Read the entire article, including a list of resources from TRB.
Source: National Academies
About the Author
Frank RaczonFrank Raczon
Frank Raczon has covered and influenced the equipment industry for 35 years, including 15 years as senior editor of Construction Equipment, and marketing, advertising, and public relations work with the industry's top manufacturers. In addition to authoring "Caterpillar: Modern Earthmoving Marvels" (Motorbooks, 2015), he has won numerous awards in his career, highlighted by nods from the Construction Writers Association, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Business Marketing Association, and BtoB magazine. Raczon has also won a number of awards from publishing peer groups such as ASBPE and TABPI.