Rule on work zone safety and mobility

Public Roads, Jan-Feb, 2006 by Tracy Scriba, Jennifer Seplow

FHWA and States offer guidance and share best practices to facilitate implementation of the regulation.

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Work zone safety is a major concern in the United States, with 1,065 fatalities and more than 40,000 injuries resulting from work zone crashes in 2004 alone. In addition to the human toll, consider the following: Traffic volumes and congestion are increasing, but little corresponding growth in road miles is happening. Many of the Nation's highways are approaching middle age, requiring additional construction and repair, and thus more work zones. Increasingly, construction is taking place while traffic continues to flow on the facility undergoing repair, which applies greater pressure on contractors to compress schedules, finish projects early, and perform work at night while maintaining safety and quality. Mobility, often referred to as "travel time reliability," is also a key factor associated with work zones, with travelers reporting being frustrated with the delays and unexpected road conditions caused by work zones. This is particularly an issue for road users when a project is in progress but no work appears to be going on for days at a time, yet congestion and delays continue to occur.

These trends underscored a strong case for updating the Federal regulations governing safety and mobility in work zones. After soliciting input from transportation agencies and organizations across the country, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) updated 23 CFR 630 Subpart J, the Rule on Work Zone Safety and Mobility (the Rule), on September 9, 2004.

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Published in the Federal Register (69 FR 54562), the Rule updates the former regulation, "Traffic Safety in Highway and Street Work Zones," to address the challenges of today and those likely to be faced in the future. The updated Rule provides a decision-making framework for considering the broader safety and mobility impacts of work zones across all stages of a project. The updated regulation also will facilitate the implementation of appropriate strategies to help manage those impacts.

The broader context takes into consideration that the impacts of work zones may extend beyond the physical location of the construction itself to affect safety and mobility miles away. Not only can work zones affect traffic on the roadway being worked on, but also on other highway corridors and even other modes of transportation.

All State and local governments that receive Federal-aid highway funding must implement the Rule by October 12, 2007. Updating the regulations is just one part of the solution. Ongoing outreach and development of detailed guidance are two methods FHWA is using to disseminate information. The other part of making work zones work better is for State and local transportation agencies to adopt and implement the updated Rule. Highlights follow from some of the States that are using innovative strategies to improve safety and mobility in work zones.

Overview of the Rule

Some of the questions that State and local agencies are asking as they begin implementation include the following: "We know this new Rule exists, but what do we need to do to implement it?" "Does the Rule mean a lot of additional work for my agency?" "How does the Rule differ from what we are already doing?"

The level of effort needed to implement the Rule will vary from agency to agency. Some agencies already are adopting aspects of the Rule and may need only to formalize and institutionalize those steps. Others will find they need to change the way they do business. But modifying their procedures promises to yield positive results.

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"We are working with FHWA and looking at all the information that has been gathered to help craft the Rule," says Jacqui Yuke Ghezzi, chief of the traffic management branch at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). "Any time we can borrow information from other States, it's very welcome and helpful."

The updated regulation emphasizes partnerships between FHWA and the States, valuing adaptability and elasticity so that agencies can apply the provisions appropriately to their respective operating circumstances and serve the needs of various kinds of projects. "[FHWA] left the States with the flexibility to address their particular issues," says Dave Holstein, administrator of the Office of Traffic Engineering for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). "Ohio's needs may be very different from those of a more rural State, for example."

The Rule contains three primary components:

* Implementation of an overall, agency-level policy on work zone safety and mobility to institutionalize the consideration and management of work zone impacts

* Development and implementation of agency-level processes and procedures to support policy implementation, including procedures for assessing the impacts of work zones, analyzing data, conducting training, and reviewing processes

* Development and implementation of project-level procedures to assess and manage the impacts of individual projects, including the creation of transportation management plans (TMPs)