Recently, construction on America's roadways has increased at a rapid rate. This increase in road construction is not without problems. Prior studies have shown that the probability of encountering a traffic accident increases significantly in and around construction work zones. In the past three years alone, accidents occurring in work zones in the Commonwealth of Virginia have lead to 27 deaths, 1380 injuries, and nine million dollars in property damage. In order to identify effective countermeasures, it is first necessary to understand the conditions under which they are occurring. To this end, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) commissioned the study of the distribution of traffic accidents in construction work zones. Each work zone can be divided into five typical areas. These areas include the advance warning area, the transition area, the longitudinal buffer areas, the activity area, and the termination area. Every accident that occurs in a construction work zone may be placed into one of these five areas. The purpose of this thesis project was to determine where exactly within the work zone the majority of traffic accidents are taking place. Also, this project determined what type of accident was the most prevalent in work zones and proposed alternatives that could prevent such accidents. After statistically analysing over one thousand traffic accidents from the period 1995 to 1997, this thesis study concluded that the fourth area of the work zone (the activity area) contains the majority of Virginia's accidents and that these accidents are mostly rear end collisions resulting in property damage only. Based on this information, countermeasures were proposed for testing. These countermeasure included the use of variable message signs and intelligent transportation systems technologies. The next step is to test these countermeasures to determine what effect they will have on the occurrence of traffic accidents in construction work zones. (Author/publisher)
Abstract