Improving Work-Zone Safety for Visually Impaired Pedestrians

To help blind or visually impaired pedestrians navigate sidewalks and intersections affected by road construction safety, University of Minnesota researchers have developed a smartphone app under a project funded by the Minnesota Department of Transportation. The app can detect upcoming work zones and provide routing instructions. It builds on a previously developed smartphone-based system that was designed to provide visually impaired pedestrians with geometric and signal timing information at signalized intersections.