Identification of Positive Guidance Deficiencies in Urban Interchange Work Zones

Texas is the second largest state and has the second largest population in the United States. With the constant growth of its population and infrastructure, the demand for transporting goods and people efficiently and safely to their destinations is vastly increasing. Although Texas currently has over 300,000 paved miles of roads, there is frequent construction and maintenance on urban interchanges and freeways to keep up with the continuing growth of the state, population and impact of vehicles on the roadway. As work zones become ever present on the freeways, congestion and road signing will have an impact on the drivers’ awareness in the urban work zone areas. In this research the core steps of the positive guidance procedure are used and applied to urban interchange work zones to identify and characterize the types of conflicts and issues encountered within work zones. Data collected consisted of video and audio recordings from drive through various traffic movements at four urban freeway interchanges in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio. By using the key steps of the positive guidance procedure, several deficiencies were detected and could be assessed. Such deficiencies include possible overload of guide signs with temporary traffic control signs, merging entrance ramps, exit ramp splits, and areas where motorists have to negotiate potential hazards.