About the Guidebook

Work Zone Operations Best Practices Guidebook

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration

Office of Operations
Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590

Phone: 202-366-9210
Fax: 202-366-3225
Web site: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/workzones

October 2007
Publication No. FWHA-HOP-07-131

United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration

Foreword
Notice
Acknowledgments
Overview of the Guidebook
Technical Report

Foreword

This Guidebook is the second release of a resource designed to give State and local transportation agencies, construction contractors, transportation planners, trainers, and others with interest in work zone operations access to information and points of contact about current best practices for improving work zone mobility and safety. The Guidebook is available in three formats: hardcopy, CD-ROM, and a web-based version. The CD-ROM and web-based versions of the Guidebook provide added search capabilities and facilitate widespread distribution and use of the Guidebook. The web-based version of the Guidebook is available via the Federal Highway Administration Office of Operations work zone web site: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/workzones. Printed copies and CD-ROMs of the Guidebook can be obtained by sending an email with the name of the publication you are requesting, number of copies needed, and shipping directions, to workzonepubs@dot.gov.

In addition to the collection of work zone best practices and associated cross-references, the Guidebook includes three forms designed to make the Guidebook more useful to current and future users. These are 1) a registration form, 2) a best practices submission form, and 3) a best practices review and comment form. Please complete the registration form so that you can be included in distributions of future editions of this document and notified when updated information is available.

Notice

The Federal Highway Administration provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

Acknowledgments

The Guidebook's origins date back to the June 1999 American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Meeting of the Subcommittee on Traffic Engineering. At that meeting, the Director or FHWA's Office of Transportation Operations and the Chairman of the AASHTO Subcommittee's Best Practices in Work Zones Task Force, agreed to collaborate on the development, publication, and distribution of a Work Zones Best Practices Guidebook that would give practitioners easy access to these best practices. Figure 1 provides an overview of how the AASHTO Task Force and FHWA have worked together in the development of the Guidebook.

AASHTO and FHWA Collaboration: AASHTO contributes hands-on experience and activities, subject matter expertise, access to practitioners and vendors and distribution channels. FHWA contributes national coordination, program planning and management, headquarters and field resources and publication and production support.
Figure 1. AASHTO and FHWA Collaboration

The AASHTO work zone task force has continued to collaborate with FHWA on the Guidebook. In preparation for this version of the Guidebook, the Task Force provided a review of the practices in the existing Guidebook and provided recommendations for adding, deleting, revising, and combining best practices. Figure 2 provides an overview of the Guidebook development and revision process used by FHWA.

Figure 2. Guidebook Development and Revision Process

Overview of the Guidebook

This Work Zone Best Practices Guidebook provides an easily accessible compilation of work zone operations best practices used by various States and localities around the country. The Guidebook is a reference document that can be updated with new approaches, technologies, and practices for effectively managing work zones and reducing the impacts of work zones on mobility and safety as they are identified. The best practices are descriptive not prescriptive. That is, they describe approaches that have been successfully used by transportation agencies, along with contact information to find out more from the agency using the practice. Each organization must determine which of these practices are best suited for its particular situation, considering all the site-specific factors that affect work zone operations.

The best practices are grouped into 11 major categories to help practitioners easily find practices that deal with a particular topic. Practices can also be found via 7 cross-references that enable users to find best practices in several different ways, and a subject index that offers 50 topics and subtopics for more specific searches. The online version also has a search function for searching on a particular word or term of interest.

Each of the 11 sections begins with a description of the work zone practice category and a brief summary of the types of activities implemented. Following this overview of the category, each of the work zone best practices is described in the section. The descriptions include:

A Best Practice Reference Number
The Best Practice Title
Description of the Best Practice
Reason(s) the Agency Used the Best Practice
Primary Benefit(s) Being Realized from this Best Practice
Most Applicable Location and Type(s) of Projects Where this Practice Is Most Effective
Contact(s).

The cross-reference section of the Guidebook provides a variety of cross-references that allow practitioners to identify best practices based on where they were observed, project life cycle stage, nature of the work zone activity, traffic conditions in the work zone, geographic or demographic characteristics, and the type of roadway involved.

The reference numbers identify each practice by category and subcategory, so that as new best practices are added, they can be added to the appropriate section of the Guidebook and the cross-reference listings. Figure 3 provides an illustration of how the Guidebook is organized.

Figure 3. Guidebook Organization

Technical Report

1. Report No. FWHA-HOP-07-131	2. Government Accession No.	3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle Work Zone Operations Best Practices Guidebook		5. Report Date October 2007
		6. Performing Organization Code
7. Authors Various		8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) 1710 SAIC Drive M/S T1-12-3 McLean, VA 22102		10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
		11. Contract or Grant No. DTFH61-01-C-00180
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Federal Highway Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, D.C. 20590		13. Type of Report and Period Covered
		14. Sponsoring Agency Code HOTO
15. Supplementary Notes Project Leader - Tracy Scriba, FHWA
16. Abstract This Work Zone Best Practices Guidebook provides an easily accessible compilation of work zone operations practices used and recommended by various States and localities around the country. The Guidebook is a reference document that can be updated with new approaches, technologies, and practices for effectively managing work zones and reducing the impacts of work zones on mobility and safety as they are identified. The best practices are descriptive not prescriptive. They describe approaches that have been successfully used by transportation agencies, along with contact information to find out more from the agency using the practice. Each organization must determine which of these practices are best suited for its particular situation, considering all the site-specific factors that affect work zone operations. The best practices are grouped into 11 major categories to help practitioners easily find practices that deal with a particular topic. Practices can also be found via 7 cross-references that enable users to find best practices in several different ways, and a subject index that offers 50 topics and subtopics for more specific searches. The Guidebook is available in three formats: hardcopy, CD-ROM, and a web-based version. The CD-ROM and web-based versions of the Guidebook provide added electronic search capabilities.
17. Key Words Work zone, best practice, safety, mobility, guidebook, construction, maintenance, road rehabilitation, policy, planning, design, traffic analysis and modeling, construction methods, contracting, traveler and traffic information, traffic management planning, work zone management, worker safety, work zone ITS.		18. Distribution Statement No restrictions. This document is available to the public.
19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified	20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified	21. No of Pages 309	22. Price N/A

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized.