Leveraging Technology and Increasing Work Zone Safety

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PennDOT/PTC Work Zone Speed Enforcement: AWZSE Management Console

Client: Pennsylvania Department of Transportation & Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Location: Pennsylvania

CHALLENGE

In 2018, the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted 2018 Act 86 to improve work zone safety for workers and motorists by piloting an Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement (AWZSE) program within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Often, work zones include lane closures and narrow or shifting lanes with travel conditions that may change daily or weekly. In a November 2012 report issued by the Pennsylvania State Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), 1,804 work zone crashes in Pennsylvania resulted in 23 fatalities, with 43% of all work zone crashes resulting in injury. These statistics, coupled with increased distracted driving and speeding in work zones, demonstrated to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) that additional safety measures were necessary. The Pennsylvania State Police enforce the program by placing AWZSE units within short- and long-term work zones.

SOLUTION

In the past, work zone monitoring in Pennsylvania was tracked manually through email communication and Excel spreadsheets, often resulting in inefficiencies in managing the overall program. To solve this issue, GeoDecisions, a division of Gannett Fleming, collaborated with the engineering firm RK&K to develop the AWZSE Management Console, a custom application designed to help the program efficiently meet the safety needs of our partners – PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) – as well as Pennsylvania drivers.

To fulfill the requirements of 2018 Act 86 and improve overall work zone safety, the management console provides a tool to monitor work zone projects that may have an AWZSE unit deployed to track locations, schedule deployments, and create custom reports. The application imports information gathered from portable systems (either vehicle- or other apparatus-mounted) to detect and record vehicles exceeding work zone posted speed limits by 11 or more mph using electronic speed camera/speed timing devices (radar or nonradar). The management console supports the program administrators in tracking both scheduled and executed work zone deployments. Through facilitating the information exchange with the vendor responsible for the deployments, PennDOT and PTC have access to up-to-date, easily analyzable data that they can generate instantly. This solution also generates a geospatial map for the public to view, offering transparency to drivers.

Through the implementation of the AWZSE program, PennDOT and PTC have been able to:

  • Reduce speeds in work zones.

  • Improve driver behavior.

  • Save worker and traveler lives.

  • Complement existing state law speed enforcement by the Pennsylvania State Police.

  • Promote work zone safety.

The 2022 Report for the AWZSE program summarizes the program’s results. By improving the accuracy and efficiency of reporting with the management console, PennDOT and PTC can analyze safety data better and make more informed decisions about road work strategies, all while satisfying the 2018 Act 86 requirements. Through the AWZSE Management Console, decision-makers can monitor violation percentages, speed averages, and accident figures to observe program impact and develop revisions based on accurate and current enforcement data.

KEY TECHNOLOGY

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Utilized dashboard technology for a user interface/management console that allows decision-makers to monitor violation percentages, speed averages, and accident figures to observe program impact on public and work zone safety.

  • Developed technology to generate geospatial maps available to the public, offering transparency to drivers and increasing public safety.