United States Department of Transportation
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Improved work zone design guidelines and enhanced model of travel delays in work zones : Phase I, portability and scalability of interarrival and service time probability distribution functions for different locations in Ohio and the establishment of improved work zone design guidelines, final report, January 2006.
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2006-01-01
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Alternative Title:Portability and scalability of interarrival and service time probability distribution functions for different locations in Ohio and the establishment of improved work zone design guidelines
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Edition:Final report.
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Abstract:The project focuses on two major issues - the improvement of current work zone design practices and an analysis of
vehicle interarrival time (IAT) and speed distributions for the development of a digital computer simulation model for
queues and travel delays in work zones. Important considerations in the development of work zone design guidelines
include guidance, delineation, and the safety of workers and drivers. A nationwide survey of current work zone best
practices was conducted. Based on the review of the existing ODOT guidelines, superior practices available in other
states, relevant research, and professional judgment of personnel involved in work zone activities, a set of guidelines
for work zone design are proposed. It is anticipated that these research findings will result in the better design of work
zones which will minimize traffic delays and improve safety. In the second part of the project trailers, each using two
Wavetronix microwave radar units in side-fire mode, were developed to nonintrusively measure traffic. The traffic was
measured at six work zones sites with different types of lane configurations at different freeways in Ohio. Traffic on
the road was also independently measured using video and radar, and the results compared to records from the trailers
to verify that the trailers were measuring the traffic with reasonable accuracy. IAT data of successive vehicles in freeflowing
traffic ahead of work zones were analyzed and IAT distributions were generated as a function of the traffic
volume for each lane and relationships between traffic volumes and cumulative IAT distributions were established
allowing a direct conversion from hourly traffic counts to corresponding cumulative IAT distributions. This conversion
method produces fairly accurate cumulative IAT distributions for selected hourly traffic volumes. It was also found that
the same cumulative IAT distribution can be used to model the free-flowing traffic at other freeway locations in Ohio,
which means that the IAT distributions are portable and scalable and a microscopic digital computer simulation model
based on queueing theory may be developed to investigate traffic delays in work zones.
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