Enhancing Construction Work-Zone Safety by Passive Pavement-to-Vehicle Communication

<p>Construction work zones for roads pose significant safety challenges for drivers and workers, which can lead to accidents, injuries, fatalities, and property damage. Enhancing construction work-zone safety requires an understanding of the factors influencing accidents and fatalities and an evaluation of existing safety and traffic-management measures. The objective of this study was to improve work-zone safety for roadways, by connecting passive material sensing in the road with vehicle communication systems. A review of the main roadway work-zone safety literature found driver behavior, traffic congestion, and signage effectiveness to be the most significant factors. Vehicle speed, type of vehicles, type of collisions, and environmental conditions were found to have the most impact on the fatality rate in work zones. Past attempts to improve work-zone safety include adding rumble strips, more warning signs, and implementing smart-work-zone (SWZ) technologies. SWZ communication in-vehicle was found to reduce traffic speeds and promote faster and more consistent merging in the work-zone transition area. Pavement-assisted passive sensing, coupled with vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, may offer enhanced in-vehicle speed and lane-merge warnings, which could improve driver awareness, reduce vehicle speeds, and improve work-zone safety. A laboratory-based experiment was developed to validate the theoretical configurations of smart work zones (SWZ) using passive pavement sensing, with the objective being to determine suitable spacings and inclination angles for the electromagnetic (EM) strips as speed and lane-merge warning systems, respectively. The experimental results revealed that these EM strips can estimate vehicle speed with sufficient accuracy, and the spacing of the EM-sensing strips influences the signal intensity. Additionally, the spacing and inclination angle of the EM strips influence the captured signals. This lab pilot study clearly demonstrated the potential of EM-based strips in enhancing speed and lane-merge warning systems using V2I technology for improved safety in roadway work zones.</p>