Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
Photo collage: temporary lane closure, road marking installation, cone with mounted warning light, and drum separated work zones.
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Work Zone and Traffic Analysis

Work zone
To meet safety and mobility needs during highway maintenance and construction, and to meet the expectations of the traveling public, transportation practitioners need to minimize and manage the work zone impacts of road projects. Understanding the anticipated type, severity, and extent of work zone impacts associated with various project alternatives enables practitioners to include appropriate mitigation strategies during project programming, design, and in the development of effective transportation management plans (TMPs).

Analysis of the work zone may include consideration of items such as the following:

  • Mobility and safety impacts of the project at the project, corridor, and network levels.
  • The combined impacts of concurrent projects that are located near each other or on the alternate route for another project.
  • Impacts on nearby intersections and interchanges, railroad crossings, and public transit and other junctions in the network.
  • Impacts on evacuation routes and affected public property.
  • Impacts on affected businesses and residences.

Analysis may necessitate the use of analytical tools, depending on the degree of analysis required. Some tools, such as QuickZone and CA4PRS, were designed for work zone related analysis. Other traffic analysis tools that were not designed specifically for work zones may also be useful for analyzing work zone situations.

Technical Resources

Work Zone Traffic Analysis Strategies

  • Work Zone Impacts Assessment: An Approach to Assess and Manage Work Zone Safety and Mobility Impacts of Road Projects (HTML, PDF 10MB) - Presents a general approach for work zone impacts assessment and provides examples of how agencies are currently assessing and managing work zone impacts.
  • Work Zone Analysis Leaflet (HTML, PDF 276KB) - Brief, easy-to-read overview of work zone analysis and how modeling and simulation can be used as part of the analysis. Includes three short examples.
  • Traffic Analysis Toolbox Volume VIII: Work Zone Modeling & Simulation: A Guide for Decision Makers (HTML, PDF 1.9MB) - Provides guidance to decision-makers on the role of analytical tools in work zone planning and management, including what kind of analytical approach may be of most value in light of agency needs, complex data requirements, and staff training.
  • Traffic Analysis Toolbox Volume IX: Work Zone Modeling and Simulation - A Guide for Analysts (HTML, PDF 15MB) - Targets practitioners and includes detailed real world and application information to help guide the selection of a modeling approach and its application to projects. Addresses tailoring the analysis, choosing what type of approach to administer, and selecting the appropriate category of tool(s). Uses real world examples/case studies to help support the guidance provided.
  • Article in July 2009 Focus About Traffic Analysis Toolbox Volumes VIII and IX
  • Webinar on Work Zone Traffic Analysis Strategies - FHWA/National Transportation Operations Coalition webinar (July 9, 2008) on work zone traffic analysis approaches and issues, and a process for integrating traffic analyses into work zone decisionmaking. Case studies were used to show how agencies/jurisdictions have incorporated work zone modeling into their processes and how these analyses are improving work zone planning and operations.
  • Predicting Performance With Traffic Analysis Tools - Case Study 2: I-15 Reconstruction in Utah discusses Utah DOT's use of modeling to evaluate the impact of various reconstruction lane closure scenarios for I-15. UDOT also uses the modeling program to coordinate the timing for multiple construction projects at the system level, guide scheduling decisions and letting timeframes, and determine operational treatments during construction to alleviate impacts.

Additional Resources

Tools

QuickZone

QuickZone is an easy-to-use computer-based traffic analysis tool that compares the traffic impacts for work zone mitigation strategies and estimates the costs, traffic delays, and potential backups associated with these impacts. The target users of QuickZone are State and local traffic construction, operations, and planning staff, and construction contractors. QuickZone can be used to:

  • Quantify corridor delay resulting from capacity decreases in work zones.
  • Identify delay impacts of alternative project phasing plans.
  • Support tradeoff analyses between construction costs and delay costs.
  • Examine the impacts of construction staging by location, time of day (peak versus off-peak), and season (summer versus winter).
  • Assess travel demand measures and other delay mitigation strategies.
  • Help establish work completion incentives.

QuickZone can help agencies with the impacts analysis efforts that are encouraged by the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule.

QuickZone 2.0 is the current version of the software. Learn more…

Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (CA4PRS)

CA4PRS is a software tool that supports the integrated analysis of project alternatives for different pavement design, construction logistics, and traffic operations options. It was designed to help state highway agencies and paving contractors develop construction schedules that minimize traffic delay, extend the service life of pavement, and reduce agency costs.

Dynasmart-P

Dynasmart-P is a dynamic traffic assignment analysis tool that can be used to support decision making for regional work zone management.

Example Applications

  • Examples of Assessing and Managing Work Zone Impacts
  • Oregon DOT's Work Zone Traffic Analysis Methodology - Used to estimate and manage project and corridor work zone delays, the methodology predicts the hours of the day when lanes or shoulders can be reasonably closed and the approximate queue length that would develop during such closures.
  • Impact of Lane Closures on Roadway Capacity - Three part report on research to develop new models for planning lane closures on two-lane and arterial roadways. (Florida DOT Report BD545-61)
  • Impact of Trucks on Arterial LOS and Freeway Work Zone Capacity (Part B: Freeway Work Zone Capacity) (PDF 526KB) - Results of a University of Florida study for the Florida DOT to develop analytical models and procedures for estimating the capacity of a freeway work zone considering various parameters. (Florida DOT Report BD545-51)
  • Rapid Pavement Construction Tools, Materials, and Methods (PDF 7.97MB) - Washington State DOT report on its implementation, use, and experience with CA4PRS, portland cement concrete pavement panel replacement, polymer concrete, and traffic closure windows for rapid pavement construction.

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