Safety Performance Evaluation of Minnesota's Temporary Rigid Panel Sign Stand Systems

A wide variety of traffic controlling devices are used in work zones, some of which are not normally found on the roadside or in the traveled way outside of the work zones. These devices are used to enhance the safety of the work zones by controlling the traffic through these areas. Due to the placement of the traffic control devices, the devices themselves may be potentially hazardous to both workers and errant vehicles. The impact performance of many work-zone traffic control devices remains unknown, even though previous crash testing on work-zone traffic control devices has been conducted under the criteria of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report No. 350, "Recommended Procedures for the Safety Performance Evaluation of Highway Features". The objective of the study was to evaluate the safety performance of various work-zone traffic control devices through dynamic bogie testing according to the Test Level 3 (TL-3) criteria set forth in the NCHRP Report No. 350. The impacts on the temporary rigid panel sign supports presented within resulted in acceptable safety performances. Following the analysis of these crash tests as well as the test results from other testing programs, it has been found that slight variations in design features of the work-zone traffic control devices can lead to very different performance results. Therefore, extreme care should be taken in applying crash test results from one work-zone traffic control device to similar work-zone traffic control devices with slight variations. The results of the crash tests were documented, and conclusions and recommendations pertaining to the safety performance of the work-zone traffic control devices were made.

• Record URL:
  http://nlc1.nlc.state.ne.us/epubs/R6000/B016.0114-2007.pdf
• 
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Nebraska, Lincoln

  Midwest Roadside Safety Facility
  2200 Vine Street, Whittier Building
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68583-0853

  Nebraska Department of Roads

  1500 Highway 2, P.O. Box 94759
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68509

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Polivka, Karla A
  • Faller, Ronald K
  • Holloway, James C
  • Rohde, John R
• Publication Date: 2007-2-8

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 95p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash tests; Highway safety; Highway traffic control; Sign supports; Work zone safety; Work zone traffic control; Work zones
• Identifier Terms: National Cooperative Highway Research Program
• Uncontrolled Terms: Rigid panels
• Geographic Terms: Minnesota
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I73: Traffic Control; I82: Accidents and Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01049442
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: SPR-3(017), TRP-03-166-07
• Contract Numbers: SPR-3(017)
• Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 2 2007 7:06PM