13th Asia Pacific Transportation Development Conference
Warrants and Recommendations on Using Temporary Work Zone Signs in High Wind Areas
Publication: Resilience and Sustainable Transportation Systems
ABSTRACT
Under high wind, temporary traffic signs in a work zone are possibly being knocked down, which is a safety threat to through traffic, and is one of major contributors of work zone related incidents. In this paper, traffic engineers’ opinions in the performance and application of mostly used temporary traffic signs were collected, followed by the field observations in the state of Texas, USA, and wind effect simulation on temporary traffic signs through finite element analysis. Previous cost-benefit analyses of temporary sign applications were reviewed, and warrants of the applications in work zones with high wind were recommended. Field observations suggest that, embedding signs performed better than skid signs in work zones when high winds are in presence. For the finite element analysis, four important factors were employed to evaluate the performance of each temporary sign, such as: (1) minimum safety factor, (2) maximum stress distribution, (3) maximum displacement, and (4) deviation angle. It was concluded that, for areas with strongly higher wind, the embedding traffic signs are mandatorily recommended like the dual leg perforated square metal tubing with anchor sign and its updated versions, while skid signs are not recommended. In areas with moderate strong wind during certain specific months, the embedding signs are highly recommended, while skid signs shall be limited for use, including: (a) the independent dual upright with leg PSST skid sign, and (b) the dual leg PSST skid support sign. For light wind area and relevant time periods, both embedding signs and skid signs can be safely used. Wooden signs, such as the wooden skid with two wooden legs sign, and wooden long/intermediate-term single leg (H-leg) sign, are also alternative options.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is sponsored in part by the Texas Department of Transportation research project 0-6993. The authors are very grateful to project manager Joanne Steele, all members of project management committee, Mr. Abayomi Bakare, Mr. Francis Foyeku, and many other personnel for their supports or responding to the engineer survey.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Resilience and Sustainable Transportation Systems
Pages: 186 - 195
Editors: Fengxiang Qiao, Ph.D., Texas Southern University, Yong Bai, Ph.D., Marquette University, Pei-Sung Lin, Ph.D., University of South Florida, Steven I Jy Chien, Ph.D., New Jersey Institute of Technology, Yongping Zhang, Ph.D., California State Polytechnic University, and Lin Zhu, Ph.D., Shanghai University of Engineering Science
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8290-2
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jun 29, 2020
Published in print: Jun 29, 2020
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