What is a Highway Work Zone?
A highway work zone is an area where roadwork is performed in a high speed facility. It generally involves lane closures and detours requiring the deployment of equipment such as channelizing devices, signs, barriers, pavement markings, and work vehicles. Maintenance of MOT operations in work zones are traditionally performed manually, and often occur at night to reduce impacts on daytime traffic and the likelihood of incidents. Considering the risks associated with freeway work zones, agencies are looking for solutions to increase worker safety and improve motorist compliance. Work zone automation is an innovative strategy used by road authorities to alert drivers of upcoming road or lane closures and prevent access to work zones more efficiently. Automated road closures require automated warning gates, used as channelizing devices, and various ITS equipment such as automated advance warning signage, cameras, illuminated pavement markers and Infrastructure-to-Vehicle (I2V) digital alerting systems. Work zones automation reduces worker exposure to live traffic and enhances road closures efficiency for long-term and repetitive road construction operations.
Non-automated Work Zone Operational Challenges
Agencies face several challenges as part of work zone road or lane closure operations:
- Safety concerns for workers
- Labor intensive and time consuming
- Confusing for motorists that are presented with unfamiliar driving conditions
Benefits of Automated Work Zones
The ability to open and close lanes using a simple handheld remote control is a powerful advantage for traffic companies and contractors to improve safety and efficiency while reducing costs. Road authorities are implementing automated work zone road and lane closures using Versilis traffic gates and signs to:
- Create a safe environment for all road workers
- Physically prevent motorists from entering work zones
- Reduce time required to setup and breakdown closures with fully automated operation
- Reduce prolonged MOT operations
- Reduce traffic control costs and improve staff resources deployment
- Increase motorist compliance with highly visible gates and advance warning signage
Is your agency looking for solutions to improve the safety and efficiency of your work zones?
Versilis is proud to support road authorities in their efforts to enhance worker and motorist safety while improving the efficiency of work zone operations.
Learn how agencies across the United States have improved their work zone operations in partnership with Versilis by visiting our project pages.
