Best Practices for INDOT-Funded Work Zone Police Patrols

Authors

Erdong Chen, Purdue UniversityFollow
Andrew P. Tarko, Purdue UniversityFollow

Recommended Citation

Chen, E., and A. P. Tarko. Best Practices for INDOT-Funded Work Zone Police Patrols. Publication FHWA/IN/JTRP-2012/36. Joint Transportation Research Program, Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 2012. https://doi.org/10.5703/1288284315039

DOI

10.5703/1288284315039

Abstract

Transportation agencies across the U.S. are expending a great deal of effort to improve highway work zone safety. Among those efforts is a special fund for work zone enforcement established by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). The allocation of enforcement funding was based on expert knowledge and weights and scores applied to work zone characteristics considered relevant to traffic safety. The objective of the reported project was to develop a rational and defendable tool for programming police enforcement that maximizes the safety benefits of police enforcement in INDOT work zones.

To understand what affects work zone safety, the research team carried out an extensive literature review, designed field experiments to evaluate the effect of selected enforcement strategies on drivers’ behavior in work zones, and developed speed models incorporating the effect of police enforcement. The estimated speeds were used to derive CMFs that express the effect of the police enforcement strategy on work zone safety. Finally, the research team combined all of the developed components in a method of predicting the costs and the safety benefits in works zones under various enforcement strategies. This last method was included in the optimization tool for programming police enforcement in a group of planned work zones.

The described project developed an optimization tool implemented in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with the OpenSolver add-in. The tool is flexible, straightforward, and easy to use. The user should be able to quickly become familiar with the required input, results, and obtained solution.

Report Number

FHWA/IN/JTRP-2012/36

Keywords

work zone safety, police enforcement, enforcement optimization, Mixed Integer Programming

SPR Number

3529

Performing Organization

Joint Transportation Research Program

Sponsoring Organization

Indiana Department of Transportation

Publisher Place

West Lafayette, Indiana

Date of this Version

12-2012