Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
Photo collage: temporary lane closure, road marking installation, cone with mounted warning light, and drum separated work zones.
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FHWA Work Zone Facts and Statistics

Introduction

Access Comprehensive Work Zone Data Sets

For additional data visit the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse.

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Work zones play a key role in maintaining and upgrading our Nation's roadways. Unfortunately, daily changes in traffic patterns, narrowed rights-of-way, and other construction activities often create a combination of factors resulting in crashes, injuries, and fatalities. These crashes also cause excessive delays, especially given the constrained driving environment.

This page highlights work zone-related data insights. Understanding data trends is the first step to making changes to improve work zone safety, mobility, and constructability. For additional information and data, please visit the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse.

Work Zone Exposure. In the United States (U.S.), one work zone fatality occurs for every 4 billion vehicle-miles of travel1 and for every $112 million worth of roadway construction expenditures.2, 3

Work Zone Fatalities. Between 2020 and 2021, work zone fatalities increased by 10.8 percent while overall roadway fatalities increased by 10.3 percent.4 There were increases in the percentages of fatal work zone crashes involving rear-end collisions, as well as those involving a commercial motor vehicle (CMV), and a decrease in fatal work zone crashes that involved speeding. Persons on foot and bicyclists also saw a slight increase of 0.1 percent in work zone fatalities in 2021 relative to 2020.5

Work Zone Crashes. Fatal work zone crashes involving CMVs increased significantly in 2021—from 210 fatal crashes in 2020 to 291 fatal crashes in 2021.6 This 39-percent increase is in stark contrast to the 2-percent increase in fatal work zone crashes not involving a large truck or bus.7

Total Work Zone Traffic Fatalities8

Total work zone fatalities by person type in 2020 are 863 and in 2021 are 956.
Total work zone fatalities by person type in 2020 are 863 and in 2021 are 956. Categories are broken down by drivers and passengers with 685 fatalities in 2020 and 778 in 2021; persons on foot and bicyclists with 171 fatalities in 2020 and 173 in 2021; and others (occupants of a non-motor vehicle transport device and persons on personal conveyances) with 7 fatalities in 2020 and 5 in 2021.

Total Work Zone Fatal Traffic Crashes9


Two pie charts show 2020 and 2021 statistics.
Two pie charts show the 2020 and 2021 statistics for fatal traffic crashes by roadway type. In 2020, there was a reported 780 total crashes: 306 in an interstate, 384 on an arterial road, 65 on a collector road, 22 on a local road, and 3 on other roadways. In 2021, there were a total of 874 crashes: 353 on an interstate, 423 on an arterial road, 80 on a collector road, 17 on a local road, and 1 on other roadways.

Total Work Zone Fatal Traffic Crashes By Type10

The following types of fatal work zone crashes increased from 2020 to 2021.
The following types of fatal work zone crashes increased from 2020 to 2021. Categories are broken down by involving a rear-end collision with 158 (20%) fatalities in 2020 and 206 (24%) in 2021 and involving a CMV with 210 (27%) fatalities in 2020 and 291 (33%) in 2021. Where speeding was a factor decreased with 296 (38%) fatalities in 2020 and 278 (32%) in 2021. Highway worker occupational fatalities in road construction sites were 117 in 2020 and 108 in 2021.

Notes:

  • Data on fatal traffic crashes in work zones come from the FARS, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These data represent crashes coded as occurring in a work zone from all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. These data are extracted from law enforcement crash report forms, and as such are only as accurate as the data included in those reports. It is possible that some crashes that did occur in work zones were not recorded as being in a work zone, and so would not be included in these statistics.
  • The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and the NHTSA use the term CMV when referring to large trucks and buses with a gross vehicle weight or gross combination weight of 10,001 pounds or more. The NHTSA FARS provides data on yearly fatal injuries in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States. In addition to a general data query system, FARS has specific information on trucks and buses involved in fatal crashes.

Sources:

1 Bureau of Transportation Statistics — 799 fatalities in work zones in 2017 and 3,174,408,000,000 VMT in 2016. Accessible at: https://www.bts.gov/. [ Return to Note 1 ]

2 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Data - Average estimate of total US road construction expenditures of $89,316,083,333 in 2017. Accessible at: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/. [ Return to Note 2 ]

3 National metrics do not exist for the number of work zones occurring annually or the vehicle-miles of exposure to work zones. [ Return to Note 3 ]

4 FARS 2021 Annual Report File, NHTSA. FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 4 ]

5 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2020 Final File and 2021 Annual Report File, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 5 ]

6 FARS 2021 Annual Report File, NHTSA. FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 6 ]

7 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2020 Final File and 2021 Annual Report File, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 7 ]

8 FARS 2020 Final File and 20210 Annual Report File, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 8 ]

9 FARS 2020 Final File and 20210 Annual Report File, NHTSA. FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 9 ]

10 FARS 2021 Annual Report File, NHTSA. FARS data shown here are from the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. [ Return to Note 10 ]

Note: Figures are subject to revision, as values reported in FARS may be updated intermittently. Values shown here reflect what is reported by NHTSA as of April 2023.