Smart work zone technologies can be a source of data on work zone activities, including whether a work zone is active, the beginning location of a work zone, and speeds within work zones. Agencies are exploring how these technologies can improve data for their WZDx feeds, as well as to improve safety within work zones. This report presents how five agencies have implemented different smart work zone devices and describes each agency’s approach to prioritizing the incorporation of the data from the devices into their WZDx feeds. Each case study includes a discussion of the technologies used; the type of data collected; how the data are integrated, managed, and applied; and lessons learned from the projects. The case studies include the following agency projects:
- Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) – Enhancements to its Condition Acquisition and Reporting System (CARS) to include creating a WZDx compliant data feed, generating automatic work zone reports, and enabling workers to “check-in” at MnDOT work zones to populate the optional worker_presence field in Minnesota’s WZDx feed.
- Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) – A multi-track effort including automated machine vision to recognize and geolocate work zones and work zone equipment; a work zone ITS specification with required smart work zone devices, processes, and procedures; implementation of a vendor cloud and alert system, where smart devices provide information on the locations of construction, responder, and construction vehicles, equipment, and workers to the public; and a smart phone app to allow construction workers and work zone inspectors to photograph, geolocate, and connect work zones to permit data.
- Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) – Implementation of a big data analytics system, which includes the ingestion of data from smart work zone devices for monitoring work zone speeds and crashes and implementation of a WZDx feed with as many optional fields as feasible.
- Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) – Use of smart arrow boards to automate the collection of the beginning location of active work zones with lane closures on all state and interstate highways, integrating the data from the smart arrow boards with data from the work zone planning system to generate a work zone data feed for use by third parties, and integrating the smart work zone device data with the ATMS.
- Massachusetts Department of Transportation (DOT) – Implementation of an application to pull data from smart work zone sensors and equipment, and development of an open, Massachusetts-specific API, the foundation of which is being used for a national standard that would become a section of the WZDx specification devoted to collecting information from smart work zone devices.
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