This year is MoDOT’s biggest construction season ever, so it is fitting that traffic engineers developed the first-ever computer program for determining appropriate work-zone management strategies. The Transportation Management Plan, which was completed in March, will make it quicker and easier for MoDOT workers to determine the appropriate options for each work zone project.

“Prior to this system, each district had their own work-zone management checklists based on past history,” said Dan Smith, MoDOT traffic studies and corrections engineer. “TMP offers a much more unified management system and covers a wide variety of alternatives for work-zone related issues.”

The Work Zone Quality Circle, MoDOT’s work zone management task force, came up with the idea after receiving the Federal Highway Administration’s Work Zone Strategy Matrix. The FHWA’s system outlines several “triggers”- or reasons- for needing to use the matrix, possible solutions, and the pros and cons of each solution.

Based on FHWA’s matrix, MoDOT’s computer program was organized around four major “triggers,” or project goals. These triggers focus on time concerns, public impact, location and traffic flow. Under each trigger, workers can select options like “short-term project” or “concerns for worker safety” and the system will display the possible strategies that will meet the goals of each project. The strategies are accompanied by additional pertinent information, such as whether increased enforcement or public information is needed.

“TMP is a much more proactive approach to managing work zones because now we can identify concerns and implement strategies before they become a problem,” Smith said. “It also makes it easier to determine the best practice, allows workers to complete projects more efficiently, and increases safety and reduces delays for the traveling public.”

TMP will be used at the very beginning of the work-zone planning stage in order to choose the most effective methods from the start and will be re-evaluated in the design stage, to further ensure that the plan is the most effective. Construction personnel will also be able to use the program to find a solution if concerns arise while the work zone is in operation.

Updating TMP will be an ongoing process as new and innovative solutions become available. Future plans include looking at a way to inventory a project, providing a document of what worked and what didn’t, and allowing further improvements of the system.

“Identifying work zone management strategies is becoming a nationwide trend,” Smith said. “Improving work zone management is one of MoDOT’s major focuses and other states are noticing our progress. Several Midwest states have shown interest in reviewing the program.”