Work Zone Rule Virtual Workshop

1
Work Zone Rule Virtual Workshop Rule State of
the Practice Overview
2
Assessing the State of the Practice

• FHWA has identified several ways to assess the
  state of the practice and effects of the Rule
• Review of 2008 Work Zone Self Assessment (WZSA)
  results
• Review of responses to five supplemental
  questions added to the 2008 WZSA
• Discussions with State and local agencies

3
What have we learned?

• Rule has brought about positive changes in
  practices and more focus on managing work zones,
  specifically in the following areas
• Work Zone Policy
• Impacts Assessment
• Significant Project Identification
• Training
• TMP Development and Implementation
• Data Collection and Analysis

4
2008 WZSA Results

• Largest increases were in practices related to
  Subpart J
• Classifying projects based on impacts
  (Significant Projects) 25
• Training law enforcement personnel 21
• Establishing a policy to develop TMPs 20

5
WZSA Rule Supplemental Questions

• Supplemental question scoring scheme

6
Work Zone Policy

• Biggest change - Agencies have pulled together
  several disparate policy documents and
  procedures/guidelines into one WZ
  policy/guidelines.
• Some agencies did not have a policy for MOT in
  work zones and have now developed one as a result
  of the Rule.

• 21 agencies (41) have reported that as a result
  of their WZ Policy, they are taking a more
  consistent approach to planning, designing, and
  constructing road projects

7
Work Zone Policy (cont.)

• Many agencies mentioned they are now considering
  WZ impacts earlier in the project development
  process.
• Some agencies have established goals and measures
  for WZ performance (e.g., queues, delay time) as
  a result of the Rule.

8
Impacts Assessment

• The agency is seeing enhanced consideration and
  management of WZ safety and mobility impacts -
  starting during planning and continuing through
  project completion

• 24 agencies (47) experienced this as a result of
  the Rule
• 3 of those agencies cited the Rule as causing a
  significant change in this area

9
Impacts Assessment (cont.)

• While planning and designing road projects, the
  agency is expanding planning beyond the project
  work zone itself to address corridor, network,
  and regional issues particularly when
  congestion is an issue.

• 19 agencies said the Rule had caused this to
  occur
• 17 agencies said the Rule had not caused change
  because most of those agencies (16) were already
  doing this

10
Impacts Assessment (cont.)

• Agencies also indicated that they are more often
  using analytical tools to determine WZ impacts
• 10 to 15 increase in score each of the past 2
  years on the 2 related WZ SA questions
• During planning to assess impacts of future
  construction/maintenance activities
• To assess impacts when developing TCPs

11
Significant Project Identification

• Agencies are thinking more about project impacts
  and are more likely to have a process in place to
  classify projects based on expected impacts
• As a result, they are better able to assess and
  manage WZ impacts
• WZ SA shows a 25 increase in score between 2007
  and 2008 in this area
• Several States said that they organize a team to
  develop the plan for mitigating the impacts of
  significant projects

12
Training

• Training has been significantly affected by the
  Rule
• 27 agencies (53) said that as a result of the
  Rule they had updated/changed training for their
  staff (designers, planners, construction staff,
  etc.) to address broader consideration of WZ
  impacts and management in the scheduling, design,
  and implementation of projects
• 11 of those agencies said they had made
  significant changes in training
• WZ SA question on law enforcement training saw a
  21 increase in score from 2007 to 2008

13
Training (cont.)

• The agency has updated/changed training for its
  staff (designers, planners, construction staff,
  etc.) to address broader consideration of work
  zone impacts and management in the scheduling,
  design, and implementation of projects.

14
TMP Development and Implementation

• Most agencies (90) now have a policy for
  developing TMPs to help manage the WZ impacts of
  a project
• WZ SA shows a major score increase (20) from
  2006 to 2007 and again from 2007 to 2008
• Some agencies have developed TMP teams and tools

15
Use of TMP Strategies

• The agency is expanding WZ management beyond
  traffic safety and control to address mobility
  through the consideration and use of
  transportation operations (TO) and public
  information (PI) strategies.

16
Data Collection and Analysis

• Increasing number of agencies report they are
  establishing measures and collecting data to
  track WZ congestion and delay
• Likely related to the addition of operational
  data to data provision when the Rule was updated
• Agencies establishing measures to track WZ
  congestion and delay increased 26 (from 23 to 29
  agencies) between the 2007 and 2008 WZ SA, which
  continued a significant increase of the year
  before
• WZ SA indicates a 21 score increase between 2006
  and 2007 and a 15 increase from 2007 to 2008 for
  the question on collecting data to track WZ
  congestion and delay
• Several agencies have started tracking queues