SAFETY EVALUATION OF FORCED WEAVING AS A TRAFFIC CONTROL MEASURE IN FREEWAY MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS

EFFECTIVE TRAFFIC SPEED CONTROL DURING MAINTENANCE OR RECONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY IMPLIES NOT ONLY THAT THE SPEED WILL BE REDUCED ENOUGH TO LOWER THE CONFLICT BETWEEN WORK ACTIVITY AND TRAFFIC FLOW BUT ALSO THAT NO ADVERSE CONFLICTS WILL BE INTRODUCED WITHIN THE TRAFFIC STREAM. SPEED CONTROL EFFECTIVENESS AND SAFETY WERE ANALYZED FOR 2 EXAMPLES OF A TRAFFIC SIGN-TRAFFIC CONE-TRAFFIC BARRICADE PATTERN DEVELOPED BY THE IOWA STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION. THE PATTERN FORCES ALL THROUGH TRAFFIC TO NEGOTIATE A SINGLE LANE IN A WEAVING PATTERN. THE SWITCHBACK FROM 1 LANE TO ANOTHER IS DESIGNED TO CONTROL SPEEDS. RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE WEAVING WAS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE WHEN CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY WAS VISIBLE; MORE THAN 50 PERCENT OF ALL VEHICLES SAMPLED TRAVELED BELOW THE POSTED TEMPORARY SPEED LIMIT. WHEN NO CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY WAS EVIDENT OR WHEN NO FORCED WEAVING WAS USED, FEWER THAN 20 PERCENT OF ALL VEHICLES SAMPLED COMPLIED WITH THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT. ANALYSIS OF THE LANE CHANGING AHEAD OF THE WEAVE PATTERN INDICATED THAT NO EXCESSIVE DRIVER CONFUSION WAS INTRODUCED IN THE APPROACH TO THIS UNIQUE SPEED-CONTROL PATTERN. ONLY 3 VEHICLES WERE OBSERVED TO PERFORM HAZARDOUS OR UNUSUAL MANEUVERS IN NEGOTIATING THE ADVANCE-WARNING AREA. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1972/388/388-008.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Maintenance Operations. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Brewer, Kenneth A
• Publication Date: 1972

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 84-93
• Monograph Title: Freeway operations and control
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 388
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Maintenance practices; Speed control; Speed limits; Weaving traffic
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00226402
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: No 390 PP 36-9
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 19 1972 12:00AM