European Work-Zone Practices Yield Ideas for U.S.Roads

To observe how other countries manage traffic flow through temporary work zones, FHWA and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning tour to give U.S. highway agency and contractor representatives a first-hand look at operations. The tour took place in May 1999, and representatives of FHWA, state DOTs, and private contractors visited locations in Cologne, Germany; The Hague, the Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Paris, France.
The team noted that European agencies focus a great deal of attention and resources on evaluating how the project will affect their customers the highway users and then on developing and implementing strategies to minimize those effects. They also place a great deal of emphasis on developing and implementing a communications plan to inform the public about work zones and provide alternative routes well in advance of the project start date and on keeping the public informed about real-time traffic situations. Agencies and contractors extensively use ITS technologies to communicate with the public.