FHWA Work Zone Safety Grants: Utility Work Zone Safety Guidelines and Training

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FHWA Work Zone Safety Grants: Utility Work Zone Safety Guidelines and Training

Progress PresentationWAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
July 2008

FHWA Contract No. DTFH61-06-G-00006

Tapan Datta, Ph.D., P.E.,U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
WSU-Transportation Research Group
Professor and Grant Project Manager

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Major Accomplishments: Meetings and Presentations

  • First Local Focus Group Meeting on November 29, 2006
  • First National Focus Group Meeting on January 23, 2007
  • Second Local Focus Group Meeting on September 7, 2007
  • Second National Focus Group Meeting on January 15,2008
  • Presentation of UWZ Project in the “Power Talk Session” at ATSSA 38th Annual Convention and Traffic Expo in New Orleans, LA on February 10, 2008
  • Presentation to Edison Electric Institute during Spring Conference in Louisville, KY on April 29, 2008

DRAFT - Utility Work Zone Traffic Control book cover

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Major Accomplishments: Submittals

  • State-of-the-Art and State-of-the-Practice Reviews
  • Gap Study and Needs Assessment
  • Utility Work Zone Traffic Control Curriculum
  • Draft Utility Work Zone Traffic Control Guidelines

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Utility Work Zone Traffic Control Curriculum

  • Management and Safety Officials’ Training Program
    • Approximately 3 hours
    • Includes:
      • Welcome, Housekeeping and Introductions
      • Pre-Test
      • Why Follow the Guideline?
      • Utility Work Zone Traffic Control and Safety / Positive
        Guidance / Driver Expectancy
      • Agencywide Safety Culture – What? Why? How?
      • Training, Knowledge Retention and Retraining Issues
      • Question and Answer
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Utility Work Zone Traffic Control Curriculum Cont.

  • Utility Workers, Foremen, and Supervisors Training
    • Approximately 3 hours
    • Includes:
      • Introduction to guidelines
      • Recommended Traffic Control Devices and Why?
      • Suggested Traffic Control Plans / Pedestrian Issues
      • How Do You Select a Proper Traffic Control Plan?
      • Case Study - In-Class Exercises
      • Demonstration of Software Program
      • Question and Answer
      • Post-Test and Course Evaluation
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Major Accomplishments: Software Development

  • 2 Software Programs
    • Drag-and-Drop Software
      • Used for In-Class Exercise with series of Example Problems
    • Temporary Traffic Control Plan (TTCP) Selection Software
      • Used to determine appropriate Typical TTCP for site-specific conditions
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Screen shot of the Drag-and-Drop software

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Plan Selection Software (Part Shown)

Screen shot of the Plan Selection software

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Example Output

Screen shot of an example output: Utility Work on Shoulder or Beyond Shoulder With Work Vehicle(s) Parked on Shoulder (High Traffic Volume and/or High Spees) 

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Example Output

Screen shot of an example output: Lane Closure on Two Lane Road with Restricted Visibility

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Major Accomplishments: Training

  • Conducted 2 Pilot Training Sessions
    • Detroit, MI on March 20, 2008
    • Hanover, MD on April 22, 2008
  • Conducted 2 Train-the-Trainer Sessions
    • Tempe, AZ on May 14, 2008
    • Dallas, TX on June 19, 2008

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Training Program Results

Program Registrations
Location # Registrants
Detroit 66
Hanover 47
Tempe 34
Dallas 40
Pre- and Post-Test Results
Location Pre-Test Average Post-Test Average Average Improvement
Detroit 55.0% 67.4% 13.0%
Hanover 49.0% 61.6% 14.3%
Tempe 53.9% 65.0% 10.6%
Dallas 51.5% 63.3% 14.5%
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Program Evaluation Results

Location Management and Safety Officials Module Average Score out of 5
For Session no.
1 2 3 4 5
Detroit 3.7 3.7 3.9 3.8 3.8
Hanover 4.0 3.8 4.0 3.9 3.9
Tempe 4.2 4.2 4.1 4.2 4.2
Dallas 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.1 4.2
Location Utility Workers, Foremen, and Supervisors Module Average Score out of 5
For Session no.
6 7 8 9 10 11
Detroit 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.0 4.1
Hanover 3.7 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.9 4.2
Tempe 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.5 4.4 4.8
Dallas 4.3 4.4 4.4 4.4 4.2 4.6
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Upcoming

  • 2 Additional Train-the-Trainer Sessions
    • West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania
      • Thursday, July 17, 2008
      • West Conshohocken Gas Plant
      • 300 Front Street, West Conshohocken, PA  19428
    • Gahanna, Ohio
      • Thursday, August 21, 2008
      • Gahanna 700 Conference  Room 2C
      • 700 Morrison Road, Gahanna, Ohio, 43230

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Thank You

Last modified: 7/16/2008

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