Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
Table of Contents

The Focus State Initiative

Background and Overview

The idea for the work zone focus state initiative originated from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) 2004 Spring Business Meeting. In this meeting, the FHWA Division Administrators proposed the idea of having focus state initiatives in a variety of highway related topic areas:

  • Safety
  • Mobility and Productivity: Congestion
  • Mobility and Productivity: Infrastructure
  • Global Connectivity
  • Environment
  • National Homeland Security
  • Organizational Excellence

These topic areas align with FHWA's strategic goals and consequently with the Department of Transportation's strategic goals.

The purpose of the focus state initiatives is to help State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) and FHWA division offices focus their efforts on making improvements and advancing the state of practice in the selected areas in order to achieve FHWA's strategic goals as well as the overall transportation goals of the Nation. Within each area, a number of opportunities exist for improvement. For each of these opportunities, several states will serve as lead states in making improvements and acting as advocates amongst their peers to make similar improvements. FHWA will provide support to the lead states as they develop comprehensive strategies and action plans for improving the way they do business.

The work zone focus state initiative was developed in order to make improvements mainly in the areas of safety and congestion. In order to maximize limited resources, it was decided that the focus state initiative would target work zone communication and outreach strategies. This area of improvement was selected for a number of reasons. It was one of the several opportunities for improvement identified in the 2003 and 2004 work zone self assessments (the work self assessment is further discussed in Current State of the Practice section of this report), and the development and implementation of work zone communication and outreach strategies is an important component of the recently updated regulation on work zone safety and mobility (23 CFR Section 630, Subpart J). Furthermore, improvement of communication strategies is a low hanging fruit where the opportunity may be greatest for advancing the state-of-the-practice in the shortest amount of time at the lowest cost. Giving motorists information they can trust, and far enough in advance to make reasonable travel decisions, can reduce public dissatisfaction and improve safety and mobility.

In order to make the work zone focus state initiative successful, a process was developed for carrying out the initiative:

  1. Secure commitment from Division Administrators (DA's)
  2. Identify State participants
  3. Conduct Initiative (e.g. Workshop)
  4. Obtain good ideas
  5. Develop action plan
  6. Provide technical assistance

After getting the needed commitment from the DA's, six states were chosen to participate in the work zone communications and outreach focus state initiative:

  1. Arizona
  2. California
  3. Montana
  4. New Hampshire
  5. Rhode Island
  6. Wisconsin

These six states were chosen based on the DA's demonstrated willingness to participate in the initiative and the agencies' relative scores on the communication and outreach section of the self assessment. In an effort to identify and implement improved work zone outreach and communication strategies, FHWA initially set a goal for each State to select and deploy one work zone outreach strategy that is new to the State by the end of FY05, ideally in the upcoming construction season. However, with the effort starting so close to the beginning of the 2005 summer construction season and the need for some time to implement an outreach strategy, the goal was modified to allow states to implement their strategies during the 2006 construction season.

Focus State Workshop

In order to kick off the work zone focus state effort, a workshop was held April 19 and 20, 2005 in McLean, Virginia. One representative from the DOT and one representative from the FHWA Division Office for each focus state were invited to the workshop. In addition to providing information to the States about the initiative, the workshop was meant to serve as a venue to allow the participants to share ideas and experiences, hear examples of what other states are doing, identify upcoming projects that require outreach, and begin developing specific strategies and action plans. The workshop also helped FHWA understand the specific needs of the States and the types of assistance that can be provided to meet those needs.

The expected outcomes of the workshop included the following:

  1. Each participant would leave armed with specific tools to help identify public information/outreach components necessary for effectively communicating roadway work zone impacts to the public and other stakeholders;
  2. The development by each State/Field Office team of a vetted framework for a realistic outreach strategy and action plan for a specific project, or any work zone projects in general;
  3. Preparation of each participant to "sell" the strategy in their home state in order to obtain the support needed to implement the strategy;
  4. Development of commitment from participants to implement the strategy.

The workshop was divided into three parts (see Appendix A - Agenda). The first part was an introduction in which participants heard about the goals of the focus state effort, and had the opportunity to share what they are currently doing and the challenges they face. The second part was a listening session, in which participants heard presentations on outreach strategies used for a variety of large and small projects and at the program level. The third part was a discussion/breakout session in which participants took what they heard from the presenters and used it to begin developing an outreach framework and action plan for their own state and then had the opportunity to obtain feedback on the plan from their peers. This report documents what was heard in the presentations and the outcomes of the breakout sessions.

Each state was asked to come to the workshop with a specific project in mind. They then spent the majority of the workshop developing a framework for an outreach strategy and an action plan to implement the strategy for the project. Following the workshop, FHWA will determine how to help states implement the action through in-kind assistance and contractor support.

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