pacific nw transportation consortium region 10 Pactrans

Commuter Mobility Versus Work-Zone Safety: An Empirical Study using Data Mining of Anonymous User Generated Trip Information

PI: Joseph Louis (OSU), Joseph.Louis@oregonstate.edu, ORCID: 0000-0002-2957-9146

Co PIs: none

AMOUNT & MATCH: $35,000 from PacTrans; $35,000 Match

PERFORMANCE PERIOD: 8/16/2017 – 8/15/2019

STATUS: Completed

CATEGORIES: Big Data, Commuting, Work-Zone Safety

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DESCRIPTION: The deterioration of the nation’s highway system through wear and tear necessitates periodic maintenance activities, which inevitably puts construction workers on work zones in close proximity with the traveling public. While the safety of workers and travelers is paramount in the context of the work zone, it must necessarily be balanced with the mobility of the traveler. Thus the goals of safety and mobility, which are often spoken of in the same breath when it comes to highway work zones, are often in conflict with each other.

This research proposes to study the relationship and the tradeoffs between safety measures on highway work zones and the effect that they have on the mobility of the traveling public. Specifically, the travel times between two sections of the highway will be studied through the analysis of crowd sourced data collected from mapping services providers like Google Maps and Waze both before and after the introduction of a work zone. This will enable the quantification of delay that occurs as a result of the work zone, which can then be correlated with the different safety measures implemented on site. It is expected that this research will improve our understanding of the safety-mobility balance on highway work zones and enable state agencies and contractors to optimize their safety plans without unduly burdening the traveling public.