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1 SUMMARY Protecting the health and safety transportation infrastructure users and those who construct and maintain it is of utmost importance. Safety is the top priority when planning, designing, constructing, and maintaining roadways. All too often, injuries and fatalities occur due to crashes in work zones on roadways. The crashes are often the result of vehicle intrusions into temporary roadway work zones. The intrusions may result in injuries and deaths to the motorists and workers. Prevention and mitigation of work zone intrusions is a high priority for improving work zone safety. Work zone intrusion technologies (WZITs) are available that provide an opportunity to prevent and mitigate vehicle intrusions into roadway work zones. The potential for WZITs to greatly improve safety in work zones, and the successes that have been achieved from their implementation so far, motivate further investigation, adoption, and implementation of these technologies. Detailed investigation into commercially available WZITs expose 28 potential WZITs that could be used to improve worker and motorist safety in a roadway work zone. These technologies are designed to: warn workers and drivers of a potential intrusion; provide a barrier to prevent an intrusion; detect and alert drivers and workers during an intrusion; and/or protect workers and drivers following an intrusion. Of the 28 technologies, the following 15 WZITs are considered to be mature and ready to use on roadway projects: 1. Connected and autonomous vehicles 2. Automated equipment with truck-mounted attenuator 3. Mobile barrier 4. Automated flagger with intrusion alert 5. Unmanned aerial system (UAS) for signage 6. Intrusion alert system with equipment-mounted sensor [e.g., Advanced Warning and Risk Evasion (AWARE)] 7. Intrusion alert system with cone/barrel-mounted sensor (e.g., SonoBlaster) 8. Intrusion alert system with networked cone/barrel-mounted sensor (e.g., Intellicone) 9. Intrusion alert system with pneumatic tube sensor (e.g., Worker Alert System) 10. Intrusion detection with Bluetooth 11. Intrusion detection with computer vision and ranging (e.g., SmartCone) 12. Queue warning system with networked cone/barrel sensor (e.g., iCone System) 13. Dynamic/changeable message sign and speed enforcement 14. Wearable lighting (e.g., Halo Lightâ¢) 15. Smart watches/bracelets Although these WZITs have shown significant potential, knowledge of technologies that could be used for preventing and/or mitigating work zone intrusions is limited across the industry. To increase adoption throughout the industry, greater effort and resources are needed to educate industry personnel about the available WZITs. One factor that impacts the desire to adopt a WZIT is an understanding of the technologyâs effectiveness in preventing and mitigating work zone intrusions. Those technologies that are rated high in terms of effectiveness by industry personnel
2 familiar with the technologies include positive protection measures (e.g., automated equipment with truck-mounted attenuator, and mobile barrier), as well as selected intrusion detection and alert systems (e.g., automated flagger with intrusion alert, UAS for signage, equipment-mounted intrusion alert systems, and intrusion detection with computer vision and ranging). These WZITs are capable of performing different functions associated with an intrusion. However, preventing and mitigating work zone intrusions requires performing a variety of functions before, during, and after an intrusion occurs. Therefore, given the present limitations of each of the technologies, fulfilling all of these functions requires implementation of a suite of diverse WZITs rather than one single WZIT. Successful development of new WZITs and enhancement of current WZITs require, in part, an understanding of the factors that are considered important when technology owners/users decide whether to adopt the technology. Importantly, the technology must reliably perform the function that it is designed for. Technology-based factors are held as the top priority. Those that are at the top of the hierarchy of hazard controls are also quite effective. The technology must also meet the needs and resources of the organization and have support from upper management within the organization. Following adoption, operations-based strategies are viewed as the most essential to ensure successful implementation of the adopted WZITs. Most WZITs are promising and could be used to improve worker safety in roadway work zones. However, additional research, regulations, and standards (guidelines/requirements) are needed to fully support and motivate the implementation of WZITs. The WZIT guide developed by the research team supports the implementation of WZITs on roadway maintenance and construction projects. The guide contains critical information on work zone safety and intrusions, a catalog summarizing the potential applications of different WZITs, and a description of a practical web-based decision support system (DSS) developed by the researchers. The DSS, created using Googleâs Webapps feature, enables the user to specify various constraints or conditions that they would like the technology to meet. By specifying such technology requirements, the DSS presents the technologies that meet the requirements. Improvements in our understanding of WZITs and their benefits still warrant additional investigation. There is a need to for further research on assessing the effectiveness and feasibility of using WZITs. When new technologies are developed, attention should be given to incorporating multiple functionalities within the technologies to enlarge their applicable use cases. Further efforts are needed to create and provide WZIT training and support resources to departments of transportations and contractors. With such training and advanced technologies, future WZIT adoption and implementation will improve. The study provides a comprehensive synthesis and evaluation of technologies that prevent and/or mitigate intrusions into work zones. The practical insights gained are applicable to the construction and maintenance work performed by all DOTs. While state DOTs may not prescribe and/or enforce the safety measures to be taken by contractors, DOTs can utilize the study results to inform and aid contractors in their efforts to enhance work zone safety, decide which technologies to adopt, and identify effective implementation opportunities. Implementing the results and products of the research, and paying close and continued attention to the protection of workers and prevention of work zone intrusions, are expected to help eliminate motorist and worker injuries and fatalities.
