AASHTO Journal, 3 May 2013
The Texas Department of Transportation announced Thursday the creation of a new highway safety system to protect both drivers and workers in work zones.
The new system includes an End-of-Queue Warning System and temporary rumble strips to cut down on work zone collisions. The End-of-Queue Warning System utilizes sensors to determine the speed of vehicles entering the work zones and then warns drivers through portable electronic signs of any traffic backups due to those work zones. The rumble strips will be placed between the sensors to send “mild vibrations” through vehicles coming up on work zones to alert distracted and drowsy drivers.
“We’re proud to unveil this innovative, new safety technology and are hopeful we can expand the system in other areas of the state,” said TxDOT Executive Director Phil Wilson in a statement. “This technology represents the future of roadway safety as it uses a comprehensive approach to warn drivers of traffic backups, thereby decreasing the likelihood they will enter a work zone at an unsafe speed. Any technology that has the potential to simultaneously protect motorists and roadside maintenance workers is well worth pursuing.”
The advance warning safety system is new in that it is the first time TxDOT has ever used this combination of tools together. The advance warning system is being implemented on Central Texas’ I-35 expansion, a 96-mile project that will widen the highway to increase capacity and change two-way roads into one-way lanes to be completed in 2017. The corridor carries anywhere between 55,000 and 115,000 vehicles per day, at least a quarter of which are trucks.
The announcement of this new system comes just weeks after TxDOT and other states commemorated National Work Zone Awareness Week, in which state transportation departments, Federal Highway Administration, and other safety partners bring attention to motorist and worker safety in work zones (see related AASHTO Journal stories here and here).