Effectiveness of Work Zone Intelligent Transportation Systems

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are increasingly being deployed in work zones to improve traffic operations and safety. Also known as Smart Work Zone Systems, these deployments provide real-time information to travelers, monitor traffic conditions, and manage incidents. Despite numerous ITS deployments in work zones, a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of these deployments does not exist. To justify the continued development and implementation of ITS in work zones, there is a need to develop a uniform framework to determine the effectiveness of ITS for specific work zone projects. In addition, guidance on the circumstances under which ITS deployment is recommended for a work zone would be beneficial to agencies. Such a framework is developed in this report. The framework consists of four steps, as shown in Figure 1. In the first step, criteria for selecting work zone sites for ITS deployment are established. The second step consists of selecting operational and safety-related performance measures for evaluating an ITS deployment. Data needs for measuring and estimating the chosen measures are then determined. In the fourth step, performance benefits are quantified, the total costs of ITS deployment are estimated, and a benefit-cost ratio is computed.