Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program

Appendix A: WZ SA Scoring and Project Types

Each assessment area contains a set of questions about a particular work zone related policy, strategy, process, or tool. For each question, respondents were asked to evaluate the extent to which a particular practice has been incorporated into an agency's way of doing business and select the most appropriate rating. Definitions for each of the rating levels are shown in Table A1.

Table A1. WZ SA Rating/Scoring Scale
Adoption Phase Scoring Range Description
Initiation (0-3)
  • Does agency management acknowledge the need for a particular item?
  • Has exploratory research taken place to assess the benefits of this item?
  • Does management support further development of this item's requirements?
Development (4-6)
  • Has the agency developed a plan or approach to address the item’s requirements? Has the agency started to investigate the feasibility of implementation?
  • Does the agency have standards and guidance to enable the item’s implementation?
  • Does the agency have the approvals necessary for implementation?
    Are resources in place to support the adoption of this item?
Execution (7-9)
  • Is the agency implementing/carrying out the requirements of this item?
    Has the agency allocated financial or staff resources necessary for the item’s execution?
  • Have appropriate personnel been trained to execute the item’s requirements?
  • Has a process owner been established?
Assessment (10-12)
  • Has the agency assessed how well this item reduces work zone congestion and crashes?
  • Has the agency assessed the process for carrying out this item?
  • Has the agency implemented appropriate changes to the requirements of this item based on performance assessments?
Integration (13-15)
  • Has the agency integrated the requirements of this item into quality improvement processes?
  • Are the requirements of this item integrated into agency culture?
  • Are the requirements of this item included as part of the employee performance rating system?

Several questions in the WZ SA are based on the magnitude of impact that a project may have on a particular area. These project types are described in Table A1.

Table A2. Project Types Used in the WZ SA
Type Characteristics Examples
Type I
  • Affects the traveling public at the metropolitan, regional, intrastate, and possibly interstate level
  • Very high level of public interest
  • Directly affects a very large number of travelers
  • Significant user cost impacts
  • Very long duration
  • Central Artery/Tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts
  • Woodrow Wilson Bridge in District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia
  • Springfield Interchange “Mixing Bowl” in Springfield, Virginia
  • I-15 reconstruction in Salt Lake City, Utah
Type II
  • Affects the traveling public predominantly at the metropolitan and regional level
  • Moderate to high level of public interest
  • Directly affects a moderate to high number of travelers
  • Moderate to high user cost impacts
  • Duration is moderate to long
  • Major corridor reconstruction
  • High-impact interchange improvements
  • Full closures on high-volume facilities
  • Major bridge repair
  • Repaving projects that require long term lane closures
Type III
  • Affects the traveling public at the metropolitan or regional level
  • Low to moderate level of public interest
  • Directly affects a low to moderate level of travelers
  • Low to moderate user cost impacts
  • May include lane closures for a moderate duration
  • Repaving work on roadways and the National Highway System (NHS) with moderate Average Daily Traffic (ADT)
  • Minor bridge repair
  • Shoulder repair and construction
  • Minor interchange repairs
Type IV
  • Affects the traveling public to a small degree
  • Low public interest and user cost impacts
  • Duration is short to moderate
  • Work zones are usually mobile and typically recurring
  • Certain low-impact striping work
  • Guardrail repair
  • Minor shoulder repair
  • Pothole patching
  • Very minor joint sealing
  • Minor bridge painting
  • Sign repair
  • Mowing
NOTE: These levels may not encompass all possible combinations or degrees of work zone categories. Some terms are general to allow flexibility in categorizing borderline project types.


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