Executive Summary

In September 2004, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published updates to the work zone regulations at 23 CFR 630 Subpart J. The updated Rule is referred to as the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule (Rule) and applies to all State and local governments that receive Federal-aid highway funding. Transportation agencies are required to comply with the provisions of the Rule by October 12, 2007. The changes made to the regulations broaden the former Rule to better address the work zone issues of today and the future.

Growing congestion on many roads, and an increasing need to perform rehabilitation and reconstruction work on existing roads already carrying traffic, are some of the issues that have lead to additional, more complex challenges to maintaining work zone safety and mobility. To help address these issues, the Rule provides a decision-making framework that facilitates comprehensive consideration of the broader safety and mobility impacts of work zones across project development stages, and the adoption of additional strategies that help manage these impacts during project implementation. At the heart of the Rule is a requirement for agencies to develop an agency-level work zone safety and mobility policy. The policy is intended to support systematic consideration and management of work zone impacts across all stages of project development. Based on the policy, agencies will develop standard processes and procedures to support implementation of the policy. These processes and procedures shall include the use of work zone safety and operational data, work zone training, and work zone process reviews. Agencies are also encouraged to develop procedures for work zone impacts assessment. The third primary element of the Rule calls for the development of project-level procedures to address the work zone impacts of individual projects. These project-level procedures include identifying projects that an agency expects will cause a relatively high level of disruption (referred to in the Rule as significant projects) and developing and implementing transportation management plans (TMPs) for all projects.

To help transportation agencies understand and implement the provisions of the Rule, FHWA has developed four guidance documents. This Guide is designed to help transportation agencies develop and/or update their own policies, processes, and procedures for assessing and managing the work zone impacts of their road projects throughout the different program delivery stages. An overall Rule Implementation Guide provides a general overview of the Rule and overarching guidance for implementing the provisions of the Rule. Two additional technical guidance documents cover other specific aspects of the Rule: TMPs for work zones, and work zone public information and outreach strategies. All four of the guides include guidelines and sample approaches, examples from transportation agencies using practices that relate to the Rule, and sources for more information. The examples help illustrate that many transportation agencies already use some policies and practices that the Rule either encourages or requires, and that there is more than one way to achieve compliance with the Rule. While what these agencies are doing may not yet be fully compliant with the Rule, their current practices still serve as good examples of how to work toward Rule implementation. While the guides cover aspects of the Rule, they also contain information that can be useful to agencies in all of their efforts to improve safety and mobility in and around work zones and thereby support effective operations and management of our transportation system.

State and local transportation agencies and FHWA are partners in trying to bring about improved work zone safety and mobility. Consistent with that partnership, the Rule advocates a partnership between agencies and FHWA in Rule implementation and compliance. Staff from the respective FHWA Division Offices, Resource Center, and Headquarters will work with their agency counterparts to support implementation and compliance efforts. This guidance document is one key element of that support.

Contents of this Guide

Work zone impacts assessment is the process of understanding and managing the safety and mobility impacts of a road construction, maintenance, or rehabilitation project. Assessing work zone impacts is important for developing effective work zone TMPs that provide for safety, mobility, and quality in maintaining, rehabilitating, and rebuilding our highways.

Over the years, State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and local transportation agencies (hereafter collectively referred to as agencies) have used many successful approaches, innovative strategies, and tools to mitigate work zone impacts. However, in light of the work zone needs of today and the future, and the principles advocated by the Rule, practitioners generally recognize the need for a systematic process to assess and manage work zone impacts. This Guide presents a general approach for work zone impacts assessment. It is not the only way, and is not intended to advocate a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Throughout the Guide there is a recognition that different projects have different needs, and that the same level of work zone impacts assessment is not appropriate for every project. For some projects (e.g., less complex projects) a high-level qualitative assessment may be sufficient, while for others a detailed quantitative analysis (e.g., modeling/simulation) may be needed.

The intended audience for this Guide is transportation agency staff, including technical staff (planners, designers, construction/traffic engineers, highway/safety engineers, etc.); management and executive-level staff responsible for setting policy and program direction; field staff responsible for building projects and managing work zones; and staff responsible for assessing performance in these areas. Appropriate non-agency staff that partner with or are contracted by the agency, such as FHWA staff with oversight responsibilities, contractors, highway workers, and consultants also may find this Guide useful.

Incorporating work zone impacts assessment in program delivery does not entail an entirely new process. Many agencies already perform key work zone impacts assessment activities. This Guide re-emphasizes them and incorporates additional concepts and principles advocated by the Rule (e.g., transportation operations, public information, performance assessment). Agencies can use the Guide to review and update existing policies, processes, and procedures, or for creating entirely new ones. The assessment process described in this Guide mirrors the typical program delivery process of transportation agencies. The assessment process is summarized as follows:

Adopting a Policy that facilitates systematic work zone impacts assessment and management, and implementing policy provisions for decision-making during program delivery.
Conducting a first-cut assessment during Systems Planning to conceptually identify work zone management strategies, address project coordination, and estimate costs.
Conducting early project-level assessments and investigations during Preliminary Engineering to further identify construction approaches, management strategies, costs, and other coordination issues.
Performing more detailed assessments throughout the various Design iterations to finalize the construction approach and management strategies, and develop the final design, TMP, and plans, specifications, and estimates (PS&Es).
Implementing the TMP during Construction, monitoring actual work zone impacts in the field, and managing the impacts by making adjustments (as needed) to the TMP.
Conducting Performance Assessment to develop recommendations for improving work zone policies, processes, and procedures.
Incorporating work zone impacts assessment and management in Maintenance and Operations.

This Guide is structured as follows:

Section 1 provides a brief introduction to work zone impacts assessment, explains its importance, identifies the target audience, and explains how it relates to the Rule.
Section 2 outlines the overall structure of the assessment process described in this Guide, and explains how it fits into program delivery. It also discusses key issues related to work zone impacts.
Section 3 discusses the development and implementation of a work zone policy, and provides examples of potential policy provisions for use in decision-making during program delivery.
Sections 4, 5, 6, and 7, respectively, discuss principles and a process that can be used for work zone impacts assessment during systems planning, preliminary engineering, design, and construction. The introductory portions of each of these sections contain a process overview, and present the potential participants, inputs, and outputs. The key elements in each of these sections are the respective process flow diagrams and accompanying process explanations that provide a step-by-step approach that can be used for work zone impacts assessment.
Section 8 discusses work zone performance assessment and how it aids in the process of understanding and managing the safety and mobility impacts of work zones. The section includes suggestions for possible work zone performance assessment categories and measures.
Section 9 discusses work zone impacts assessment for maintenance and operations (M&O) along four key themes: improving agency procedures to minimize the direct impacts of M&O activities; planning and coordinating M&O such that overall system-wide impacts are minimized; addressing impacts of M&O on other construction projects and vice-versa; and incorporating features in construction projects that would facilitate future M&O with minimum disruption.
The Guide has three appendices. Appendix A presents a real-world example of how the work zone impacts assessment process described in this Guide can be applied to a project. Appendix B provides an overview of different traffic analysis tools that may be used for analysis of work zone impacts. Appendix C presents a list of the resources referenced in this Guide.

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