Identification of traffic control problems in highway construction zones

This study involved analysis of 11 construction sites which were chosen from the data collected on 79 total sites. Accident data were utilized along with traffic control drawings and descriptions, day and night inspection reports, Special Provisions pertaining to maintaining traffic during construction and collision diagrams--to study the traffic control problems associated with each of 11 different roadway types.

In the 1l case studies are contained analyses of each project site, scrutinized as thoroughly as available information would permit. Traffic control problem areas were found to belong in one of the following two categories: (A) Problem areas which were manifested by recorded accidents, or (B) Problem areas which apparently resulted in no accidents but which, by their existence, created hazardous driving conditions or resulted in undue duress in vehicle operators.

Notable among the findings of this study was the fact that current available technology for promoting traffic safety in construction zones was not being fully utilized and that job completion was apparently given higher priority. Many safety precautions were initiated only after recurring accidents or even fatalities emphasized the fact that a hazard existed. A lack of uniformity in traffic control devices was evident from one state to another in the five states involved in the study and even from one construction site to another within a given state.

Improvements are needed in traffic safety analyses, both in the expertise of the investigating officer in being able to ascertain specific causes of accidents as well as in the reporting/compiling of accident data. A standardized system should be devised for computer coding of pertinent accident information which could be utilized by traffic accident analysts in any of the 50 states.