Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
Work Zone Performance Management Peer Exchange Workshop

Corridor-Based Work Zone Performance Measures: I-35 Central Texas

slide 1: Corridor-Based Work Zone Performance Measures: I-35 Central Texas


Work Zone Performance Management Peer Exchange Workshop

May 8, 2013 • Atlanta Georgia

Texas A&M Transportation Institute Logo.

slide notes:

Saving Lives, Time, and Resources


slide 2: I-35 Construction Corridor


  • 15 sections
  • 5 years
  • 90+ miles
  • Up to 11 projects active at one time
  • 55k-110k ADT
  • ∼66% through traffic
  • >75% trucks at night

Map of Interstate 35 Construction Corridor.

slide notes:

None.


slide 3: Vision for Traveler Information During Construction


  • Provide information on current and anticipated travel conditions across multiple construction zones to assist:
    • Local residents
    • Regional travelers
    • Long-distance travelers
  • Focus of system is on the construction related impacts

slide notes:

Finally, TxDOT recognized that the possibility exists for longer-distance travelers on I-35 to encounter multiple delays due to the multiple projects active along I-35. A way to notify motorists about the combined delays of these projects on their trips was needed.


slide 4: Key Construction-Related Traffic Issues


  • Multiple contractors working independently
  • Nighttime lane closures
    • Some create queues, some do not
    • Potential for several in same direction of travel per night
  • Alternative routes are limited (Waco, Temple, Belton)
 A construction worker placing a construction barrel on the side of a highway, and traffic traveling through a lit work zone at night.

slide notes:

None.


slide 5: I-35 Data Sources


  • Corridor lane closure database
  • Traffic volumes
  • Bluetooth travel time monitoring
  • End-of-queue warning systems

A diagram depicts a the positions of speed sensors and DMS in advance of a corridor lane closure. Nearby is a photo of a speed sensor mounted to the upright beams of an overhead gantry.

slide notes:

None.


slide 6: I-35 Corridor Measures

  • Types of lane closures (full versus single lane)
  • Advance notification times for lane closures
  • Queues
    • % of lane closures causing queues
    • Maximum lengths
  • Delays

slide notes:

None.


slide 7: Lane Closure Types and Notification

Two pie charts break out closures by impact and completed vs. cancelled closures for March 2013. A bar graph shows the distribution of advance closure notification times for the month of March and for 2013 year to date.

slide notes:

None.


slide 8: I-35 Closure Impacts – Queues

Bar graph displays the percent of lane closures with maximum predicted queue length by project section for a specific project.

slide notes:

None.


slide 9: I-35 Closure Impacts – Delays

Bar graph displays the percent of lane closures with delay by project section and a nearby chart shows drivers delay experience in percentage of drivers experiencing different levels of delay.

slide notes:

None.


slide 10: I-25 Corridor Impacts – Crashes

  • Project and corridor-level changes
  • Tracked in near real-time
  • Associate back to key work activities (i.e., nighttime freeway lane closures)
Two images, one a photo of a crash scene with incident responders on site, the other a humorous mockup of a black and white newspaper clipping with the headline "Nuclear Holocaust Destroys World, Traffic Snarled for Hours" and a photo of a mushroom cloud.

slide notes:

None.


slide 11: Discussion Questions

  • What other corridor-level measures would your agency be interested in?
  • What risks, if any, do you anticipate with possible misuse of these types of measures(from the media, political leaders, etc.)?

slide notes:

None.

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