Search Work Zone:

Work Zone Data Examples

Section 630.1008 of the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule requires agencies to use work zone data at both the project and process-levels to manage and improve work zone safety and mobility, and to maintain data resources to support these efforts. More information about work zone data can be found in Implementing the Rule on Work Zone Safety and Mobility.

The following examples are meant to assist agencies with developing their own methods of collecting and analyzing work zone data, and are not meant to advocate a "one size fits all" approach.

• State Examples
• Guidance and Technical Resources

State Examples

Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas DOT (TxDOT) researched the best approaches for collecting work zone performance measure data. Findings indicate that TxDOT should initially focus on collecting queue length and travel time delay data caused by temporary lane closures. If the work zone is located within the limits of a functioning electronic traffic surveillance system, data from the traffic sensors of that system can be used to develop the targeted measures of work zone performance. If a traffic surveillance system is not available, queue length data collected by TxDOT field crews can be used.

• Monitoring Work Zone Safety and Mobility Impacts in Texas (PDF 1.2MB) - Identifies key work zone safety and mobility performance measures that TxDOT should target as part of a work zone monitoring program within a district, region, or across the state.
• Implementation Guide for Monitoring Work Zone Safety and Mobility Impacts (PDF 841KB) - Describes a plan for monitoring the safety and mobility impacts of selected work zones within Texas.
• TxDOT's work zone performance measure data collection research (PDF 242KB) - Presentation given by Gerald Ullman at the August 2008 North American Travel Monitoring Exposition and Conference.

Kansas Department of Transportation

The Kansas DOT (KDOT) has standard operating procedures for reporting accidents and collecting data in construction and maintenance work zones. The KDOT District Engineer is responsible for providing law enforcement agencies with the contact information for agency personnel authorized to receive crash information. The District Engineer also must inform law enforcement agencies in the District that they need to notify authorized agency personnel of any and all crashes that occur in construction or maintenance work zones and supply those personnel with all of the necessary information concerning the crash. The KDOT supervisor in charge at a construction or maintenance work zone must review the crash information provided by the law enforcement agency for probable causes of the crash and complete a crash report. This report includes the Accident Investigation Report form (HTML, PDF 7KB).

As an example of using data at the process-level, KDOT has analyzed collected work zone crash data to help develop and implement effective countermeasures to prevent future work zone crashes. Two recent reports from a study, "Determining the Major Causes of Highway Work Zone Accidents in Kansas" (type KU-05-1 and KU-06-1 in the Search For field to find the reports), describe how KDOT examined crash data from the KDOT accident database and accident reports and systematically examined the work zone fatal crashes using statistical analysis methods, such as descriptive analyses and regression analyses. As a result, KDOT was able to determine unique crash characteristics and risk factors in work zones and make recommendations for work zone safety improvements.

Montana Department of Transportation

Appendix G of the Montana DOT (MDT) Work Zone Safety and Mobility Policy (PDF 537KB) includes guidelines for data collection. At the project level, the policy states that MDT should use available construction zone crash data and operational information to manage construction zone impacts for specific projects during implementation. Construction personnel should use the data to evaluate whether or not mitigation strategies are needed to correct deficiencies or to improve safety and/or mobility. Both real-time and archived data from systems can be used to identify safety and mobility issues and trends and to take appropriate action as necessary. The policy recommends the use of police crash reports as useful tools for evaluating construction zone practices. Under the policy, MDT will collect traffic delay data and traffic volume data in construction zones for significant projects, analyze the data, and use it to compare actual performance against the projected delays and mobility objectives determined during the design stage.

At the process level, MDT analyzes construction zone crash and operational data from multiple projects to identify ways to improve work zone safety and mobility. Every two years, the MDT Safety Management Section performs a statewide construction zone safety engineering analysis, based on the statewide crash records from the Montana Highway Patrol. Every year, the MDT Work Zone Safety & Mobility Core Team assesses the past construction zone crashes to see if any immediate corrective action can be implemented.

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) maintains a memorandum of understanding with the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) that the PSP will provide assistance in construction zones by alerting motorists of queues in freeway traffic projects. As part of this program, PSP monitors queue lengths every 30 minutes while performing their PSP assistance role, records this information on a form, and then provides this information to the project and work zone manager at the beginning of each week. PennDOT districts are expected to use this data to help predict queue length on future projects. The PennDOT Traffic Engineering and Operations Manual (PDF 5.91MB) provides detailed information, procedures, and guidelines about the PSP assistance program (beginning on page 389), and also includes the Queue Length Reporting Form (on page 413).

Ohio Department of Transportation

In 2002, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) embarked on a data analysis effort to determine if an increased number of work zones was causing more crashes, and, if so, to investigate what could be done to prevent the increase in crashes. Using data collected during construction and prior to construction, ODOT performed a before/after comparison of crash rates on major Interstate work zones. Based on the findings of this analysis, ODOT was able to make several improvements to its work zone planning and design procedures. This led ODOT to develop in 2004 a process to monitor work zone crashes. ODOT obtains work zone crash reports in near real-time from local law enforcement and then inputs this information into a database that sorts crashes into one-half mile segments for comparison to historical pre-construction average crash frequency. When ODOT finds abnormally high concentrations of crashes in a certain location after the implementation of a work zone, ODOT performs a field visit to the construction area to look for causes and potential fixes.

• Collecting and Using Work Zone Safety and Mobility Data in Ohio - Presentation by Dave Holstein, Ohio DOT, December 2008
• Work Zone Crash Analysis and Traffic Management in Work Zones - the ODOT MOT Process (PPT 2.27MB), by David Holstein, P.E., State Traffic Engineer, Ohio DOT

Guidance and Technical Resources

• Webinar on Work Zone Fatality Reduction Strategies - Held on May 23, 2012
  • Recording
  • Transcript (HTML, PDF 110KB)
  • Introduction Presentation, by Tracy Scriba, FHWA (HTML, PDF 476KB)
  • California Presentation, by Joe Jeffrey, Road-Tech Safety Services (HTML, PDF 467KB))
  • Florida Presentation, by Stefanie Maxwell, Florida Department of Transportation (HTML, PDF 3.2MB)
  • North Carolina Presentation, by Steve Kite, North Carolina Department of Transportation (HTML, PDF 319KB)
• AASHTO/FHWA Domestic Scan on Work Zone Assessment, Data Collection, and Performance Measurement (NCHRP 08-04) - Results of March 2010 scan looking at how 14 State agencies are planning for, monitoring, and managing work zone performance.
  • Final Report (PDF 3.8MB) - Provides detailed information about what was learned during the scan, a summary of the scan's key findings and recommendations, and the scan team's implementation strategy for national dissemination of this information to other transportation agencies.
  • Summary Report (HTML, PDF 66KB) - Summarizes the scan findings, recommendations based on the findings, and potential ways to disseminate the scan results.
  • Brochure (HTML, PDF 1.9MB) - Shares information on practices found during the scan and provides the key findings, challenges, and recommendations from the scan.
  • Webinar Recording - Provides an overview of the findings and recommendations from the scan as well a presentation on some of the Ohio Department of Transportation's practices that were encountered during the scan.
• Primer on Work Zone Safety and Mobility Performance Measurement (HTML, PDF 1.4MB) - Describes possible work zone performance measures and provides guidance to help agencies select and implement measures that make sense for their own work zone programs.
• Work Zone Safety Performance Measures Guidance Booklet and Work Zone Safety Performance Measures Training Module - Provide information to help agencies develop work zone performance measures (PM) and a data collection program for work zone safety. The materials include measure definitions, reasons for using PMs for work zone safety, a process and test for developing PMs, sample measures, how and when to measure performance and what to do with the resulting data, and real-world lessons learned.

PDF files can be viewed with the Acrobat® Reader®