States Still Improving Work Zone Scores
The 2009 scores on FHWA's Work Zone Mobility and Safety Self Assessment tool are the highest yet, indicating the state departments continue to make progress on their oversight and management.
State highway departments continue to improve how they are managing highway work zones, according to 2009 scores tallied by the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Operations, which administers the Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program. Scores on FHWA's Work Zone Mobility and Safety Self Assessment tool show how much progress has been made in various areas, while the tool itself supports the middle plank of FHWA's "Vital Few" priority areas, which are:
- Safety
- Congestion mitigation
- Environmental stewardship and streamlining
The tool is a set of 46 questions to help work zone managers assess their programs, policies, and procedures against accepted good practices, some of which are explained in the Work Zone Best Practices Guidebook. The tool helps FHWA Division Offices work with state partners on actions and priority areas for improvement, provide information for the process reviews that are required by the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule, and identify states that are leading in a particular area and might provide good case studies.
Among responding agencies, 33 (65 percent) reported they provide training to uniformed law enforcement personnel who are on duty in work zones or otherwise ensure they receive training -- up from 52 percent in 2008.
FHWA said 2009 is the first year when the average score for all six sections in the self-assessment tool was at or above the implementation threshold of 7 – meaning that, on average across the country, agencies are implementing the practices in all six sections of the assessment.