A Primer on Work Zone Safety and Mobility Performance Measurement

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Contact Information: WorkZoneFeedback@dot.gov

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September 2011

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Operations
1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, D.C. 20590

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/workzones

FHWA-HOP-11-033

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Notice

The Federal Highway Administration provides high quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

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Table of Contents

• NOTICE
• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF FIGURES
• TECHNICAL REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• INTRODUCTION
  • What are Work Zone Traffic Safety and Mobility Performance Measures?
  • Why Should Work Zone Performance Measures Be Used?
  • How Can Work Zone Performance Be Measured?
  • Objective of this Primer
• WORK ZONE PERFORMANCE MEASURE NEEDS
  • Project-Level Performance Measure Needs
  • Agency Program-Level Performance Measure Needs
• SELECTING USEFUL WORK ZONE PERFORMANCE MEASURES
  • Exposure Performance Measures
  • Safety Performance Measures
  • Mobility (Traffic Operations) Performance Measures
• SOURCES OF DATA FOR WORK ZONE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
  • Exposure Performance Measures
  • Safety Performance Measures
  • Mobility (Traffic Operations) Performance Measures
• ESTIMATING WORK ZONE DELAY AND QUEUE LENGTH PERFORMANCE MEASURES
  • Estimating Delay from Queue Length Data
  • Estimating Queues and Delays from Spot Sensor Data
  • Using a Traffic Simulation Model to Estimate Work Zone Performance Measures
• WORK ZONE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: MAKING IT HAPPEN IN YOUR AGENCY
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIX: DATA COLLECTION FORM FOR MANUAL DOCUMENTATION OF QUEUE LENGTHS AND DURATION

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LIST OF TABLES

• Table 1. Potential Exposure Measures
• Table 2. Potential Safety Measures
• Table 3. Potential Queuing Measures
• Table 4. Potential Delay Measures
• Table 5. Other Potential Mobility-Related Measures
• Table 6. Work Zone Exposure Performance Measure Data Needs and Sources
• Table 7. Work Zone Safety Performance Measure Data Needs and Sources
• Table 8. Work Zone Mobility (Traffic Operations) Performance Measure Data Needs and Sources
• Table 9. Comparison of Various Work Zone Mobility Data Sources

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LIST OF FIGURES

• Figure 1. Steps to Estimate Travel Time Delays from Queue Length Data.
• Figure 2. Components of Work Zone Delay.
• Figure 3. Steps to Estimate Queue Length and Delays from Spot Speed Sensor Data.
• Figure 4. Example of Sensor Speed Analysis to Determine Duration and Length of Queue.

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