Effectiveness of End-of-Queue Warning Systems and Portable Rumble Strips on Lane Closure Crashes
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 143, Issue 11
Abstract
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has been deploying work zone intelligent transportation systems (ITS) in an effort to reduce the number of work zone crashes along the Interstate 35 (I-35) corridor. Road construction lane closures on I-35 are typically performed at night when traffic volumes are lower but driver awareness is often reduced. The two systems evaluated were temporary portable rumble strips (TPRS) alone and end-of-queue warning systems (EOQWS) combined with TPRS. The EOQWS consist of portable changeable message signs linked to radar speed sensors to proactively warn drivers of queueing and slowed conditions ahead. The TPRS alone were deployed for work zone lane closures where no queues were expected, and both EOQWS and TPRS were deployed for lane closures expected to cause queueing. The effectiveness of these systems was evaluated over 4 years of deployments and compared to 1 year of no deployments. Both TPRS alone and EOQWS with TPRS were found to cause a significant reduction in the number of crashes under queued conditions, 60 and 53%, respectively. Additionally, the severity of the crashes that did occur was significantly reduced under queued conditions when either treatment was in place.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Funding and support for this research was provided by the Center for Advancing Transportation Leadership and Safety (ATLAS Center), a joint partnership between the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI). The authors would like to thank Chad England from Area Wide Protection (formerly N-Line Traffic Services) for traffic safety system deployment data, and Laura Higgins from TTI for her help and support throughout the ATLAS Summer Internship Program.
References
Akepati, S. R., and Dissanayake, S. (2011). “Characteristics of the work zone crashes.” 1st Congress of Transportation and Development Institute (TDI), Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
ARTBA–TDF (American Road & Transportation Builders Association–Transportation Development Foundation). (2010). “Guidelines on managing speeds in work zones.”, Washington, DC.
Chen, E., and Tarko, A. (2012). “Analysis of crash frequency in work zones with focus on police enforcement.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2280, 127–134.
Fontaine, M. (2003). “Guidelines for application of portable work zone intelligent transportation systems.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1824, 15–22.
Hall, J. W., and Lorenz, V. M. (1989). “Characteristics of construction-zone accidents.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1230, 20–27.
Khan, A. M. (2007). “Intelligent infrastructure-based queue-end warning system for avoiding rear impacts.” IET Intell. Transp. Syst., 1(2), 138–143.
McCoy, P., and Pesti, G. (2001). “Dynamic late merge-control concept for work zones on rural interstate highways.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1745, 20–26.
Nemsky, T. P. (2013). “ITS work zone experiences in southern Illinois.” Presentation at the ITS Heartland Symp., Illinois Dept. of Transportation, Springfield, IL.
Rouphail, N. M., Yang, Z. S., and Fazio, J. (1988). Comparative study of short-and long-term urban freeway work zones, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 4–14.
Salem, O. M., Genaidy, A. M., Wei, H., and Deshpande, N. (2006). “Spatial distribution and characteristics of accident crashes at work zones of interstate freeways in Ohio.” 2006 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conf., IEEE, New York, 1642–1647.
Texas A&M Transportation Institute. (2015). I-35 Central Texas Expansion Project mobility coordination and traveler information system project report, Austin, TX.
Ullman, G. L., et al. (2010). Traffic law enforcement in work zones: Phase II research, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Ullman, G. L., Finley, M. D., Bryden, J. E., Srinivasan, R., and Council, F. M. (2008). “Traffic safety evaluation of nighttime and daytime work zones.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Ullman, G. L., Iragavarapu, V., and Brydia, R. E. (2016). “Safety effects of portable end-of-queue warning system deployments at Texas work zones.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2555, 46–52.
Ullman, G. L., and Krammes, R. A. (1991). Analysis of accidents at long-term construction projects in Texas, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Venugopal, S., and Tarko, A. (2000). “Safety models for rural freeway work zones.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1715, 1–9.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 143 • Issue 11 • November 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 26, 2016
Accepted: May 9, 2017
Published online: Aug 31, 2017
Published in print: Nov 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Jan 31, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.