A Nation's highway system is critical to its economic well-being. Over the years, these systems have served their purpose. But now many highways are wearing out and in need of major repair work. Unfortunatly, this work often must be done next to high speed, high volume traffic. This work reduces capacity causing traffic congestion, increases danger to the motorists and workers and increases work and motorists' costs and delay. To minimize the problems created by the work. Europe and the USA are developing active programs and innovative approaches to provide effective and safe traffic control and worker protection. This paper will discuss the similarities and differences between the European countries and the USA in the following areas: a) Accident experience: location, type, number and severity; b) Data bases and methods of assessing traffic flow and costs; c) Traffic management strategies: planning, public awareness campaigns, scheduling, implementation, and inspection; d) Traffic management techniques: lane closures, diversions and one-way operations; and, e) Traffic control devices: signing, signaling, marking, channelization and barriers.
Abstract