Computation of User Costs at Freeway Work Zones Using Weigh-in-Motion Traffic Data

Consideration of the excess user costs of traffic delays caused by the presence of work zones is essential for assessment of impact of the work zones on the public. The excess user costs include traffic delay costs and additional vehicle operating costs resulting from speed changes at work zones. User costs at highway work zones are increasingly used by highway agencies to determine the contract times of highway construction projects. This paper analyzes the user costs at freeway work zones based on traffic data recorded by weigh-in-motion devices in Indiana. With a high traffic volume, user costs caused by a work zone can be significant; it is therefore desirable to minimize the user costs by expediting construction process. User costs at work zones are often used as the basis of determination of the monetary values for incentive or disincentive clauses in highway contracts for early or late completions of highway construction projects. In this study, the user costs at freeway work zones were computed based on the estimated traffic delays with the weigh-in-motion recorded traffic data.