Evaluation of work zone enhancement software programs.

668215833Final report.PDFTech Reporthttp://library.modot.mo.gov/RDT/reports/Ri07062/or10006.pdfOR10-006RoadsWork zone safetySimulationComputer modelsMissouriEdara, PraveenMissouri. Dept. of Transportation. Organizational ResultsNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-Construction and MaintenanceNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-DesignUS Transportation CollectionThe Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is looking for software tools that can assist indeveloping effective plans to manage and communicate work zone activities. QuickZone, CA4PRS,VISSIM, and Spreadsheet models are the tools that MoDOT is particularly interested in. These toolsquantify the travel delays and hence can be used to plan, design, and schedule the work activity so as tominimize those delays. In this report, the findings of a research project on evaluating the four identifiedwork zone tools are presented. Based on the results of a literature review, state DOT survey, and casestudies conducted in this project, recommendations were made for the most appropriate tool for differentwork zone configurations. The study recommendations are: 1) For rural interstates, divided roadways, andmultilane undivided highways in Missouri the Spreadsheet model developed in this study should be used, 2)For work zones in urban areas where lane closures on a roadway may impact the traffic on neighboringroadways, the use of VISSIM is recommended. It is also suggested that the driver behavior parameters inVISSIM be selected from the calibration charts developed in this study to obtain field capacity values, 3)For a two way one lane work zone with flagger operation, Quick Zone and VISSIM are recommended