Georgia Finds Better Alternative for Directing Traffic Through Taper Lanes

Highway maintenance often forces the Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) to temporarily close lanes of traffic. In these situations, the DOT usually deploys a series of barrels to show drivers that a lane is closed ahead and that they must move into a different lane to travel through the work area. But the barrels are bulky and do not always provide clear instructions to motorists as they pass through a taper area into a temporary travel lane.

Georgia DOT evaluated the direction indicator barricade as a replacement for the barrels. This device, developed under the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), is a conventional barricade with a 60- by 30-cm (24- by 12- in) horizontal arrow panel and a 60- by 20-cm (24- by 8-in) chevron panel.

When lanes are closed to traffic, a series of direction indicator barricades are placed along the roadside to direct motorists to merge into the taper lane and then into a temporary travel lane. The panels can be reversed to allow the same device to be used in outside or inside lanes.