Several agencies leading the adoption and deployment of SWZ Project Coordination efforts have been identified and information on their practices and points of contact are available.
Public Works Department at the City of Palo Alto, California
The Public Works Department at the City of Palo Alto, California developed an in-house, GIS-based program to coordinate construction within the City’s right of way. Public Works, Utility staff and other in-house user groups meet monthly to update project status and verify ongoing construction schedules. The input of each user groups Five Year Anticipated Plans are maintained with-in the GIS database and analyzed for potential conflicts. These conflicts can then be mapped to show where further coordination needs to occur.
Available to the General Public are two sets of GIS based maps related to the coordination efforts:
- A map that displays pavement and storm drain construction projects that are active or planned within the next 14 days.
- A map that displays the Five Year Resurfacing Plan.
Access to current and upcoming project work activities and schedules allows the department to identify those cases that may create excessive delays and inconvenience to residents and/or motorist frustration and to have an opportunity to mitigate/minimize those impacts through successful coordination.
Link to Webinar #7 slides: https://www.workzonesafety.org/files/documents/SWZ/webinar7_slides.pdf
Link to Webinar #7 recording: https://connectdot.connectsolutions.com/p6gkm64oj6p/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal
The point of contact at the City of Palo Alto, California for more information is:
Murdo M. Nicolson, Jr.
Associate Engineer
City of Palo Alto, California
Phone 650-329-2501
Email: murdo.nicolson@cityofpaloalto.org
District of Columbia Department of Transportation
The District of Columbia Department of Transportation (DDOT) faces numerous work zone challenges due to confined real estate for roadways and a sharp rise in population. In addition to an aggressive construction program, utility work, private development, and a high number of special events necessitates careful coordination. DDOT utilizes a citywide Traffic Management Plan (TMP) and work zone project management system that tracks and analyzes all work zones and special events over a five year period. The components of this tool include work zone tracking, traffic analysis, and a citywide TMP document that summarizes the results. This tool is used to identify conflicts and determine mitigation strategies. DDOT is currently in the final stage of drafting a work zone safety and mobility policy which will provide guidance on assessing work zone impacts across various stages of project development, as well as developing appropriate mitigation strategies to reduce these impacts.
Case Study: District of Columbia Department of Transportation Integrated Work Zone Project Management System
Presentation: Managing DC Work Zones via a Citywide Transportation Management Plan (See slides 13-26)
The point of contact at DDOT for more information is:
Clarence “Trey” Dickerson
Work Zone Manager
District Department of Transportation
Phone: 202-671-4586
Email: Clarence.dickerson@dc.gov
Michigan Department of Transportation
Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has approached project coordination systematically since the agency’s tracking process was adapted a few years ago. This tracking process was established in response to delays on I-94 resulting from multiple work zones. Prior to this effort, MDOT’s focus was largely based on project deadlines; it has since shifted to an operations focus by tracking mobility impacts along the entire corridor, and determining whether the cause of delays is incident or work-zone related. In the process of implementing work zone coordination, the agency determined that buy-in from internal and external stakeholders is critical due to the significant resources and planning required. To that end, MDOT has established a statewide goal to ensure that all stakeholders are working towards the same objectives.
Case Study: Michigan Department of Transportation Project Coordination on the I-94 Corridor
Presentation: Webinar #3: Smarter Work Zone Corridor-Based Project Coordination
Recording: Webinar #3: Smarter Work Zone Corridor-Based Project Coordination
The point of contact at MDOT for more information is:
Steve Brink
Southwest Region Traffic Safety and Operations Engineer
Michigan Department of Transportation
Phone: 269-337-3930
Email: BrinkS1@michigan.gov
Texas Department of Transportation
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is utilizing a Mobility Coordinator on the 17 different I-35 reconstruction projects spanning 96 miles of the corridor in central Texas. The Mobility Coordinator is responsible for anticipating mobility challenges and ensuring that stakeholder concerns are satisfied in support of timely project completion. Ultimately, a reconstruction effort of this magnitude affects hundreds of thousands of citizens living nearby, tens of thousands of businesses, and millions of travelers over its lifespan. For business owners situated beside I-35, changes resulting from construction can seem threatening since they potentially limit a customer’s ability to get to their stores for what can often be a significant period of time. The Mobility Coordinator addresses those concerns by helping business owners prepare for planned work and maintain access for their customers as well as deliveries during construction.
In addition to these activities, contractors are required to submit advanced notice of lane closures. The closure requests are entered into a database where individual and cumulative delays can be computed for any given time period. If cumulative delays are expected to exceed 30 minutes over the length of the corridor, the Mobility Coordinator takes action to mitigate those impacts. In many cases, the issue is resolved by asking one or more contractors to delay the start time of their closure by a few hours. In other cases, they may be asked to postpone the closure to another night entirely.
Presentation: Webinar #3: Smarter Work Zone Corridor-Based Project Coordination
Recording: Webinar #3: Smarter Work Zone Corridor-Based Project Coordination
The point of contact at TTI for more information is:
John Habermann
Mobility Coordinator
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
Phone: 512-994-9450
Email: j-habermann@tti.tamu.edu
Puget Sound Region of Washington
The Puget Sound region of Washington State encompasses the cities of Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Everett, two state DOT districts, and many local transportation agencies. Independent scheduling of projects left the potential for conflicting lane closures to frequently occur. Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) executives recognized the need to better coordinate and allocated funding to internally develop a software program called the Construction Impact Analysis (CIA) project coordination tool. WSDOT gathers information on planned construction activities from stakeholders, updates the tool, and distributes tool outputs to over 400 interested stakeholders in the region, including detailed maps and Gantt chart with project details.
Case Study: Washington State Department of Transportation Regional Project Coordination
The point of contact at WSDOT for more information is:
Janice Helmann
Performance Analyst
Washington State Department of Transportation
Phone: 206-464-1284
Email: Helmanj@wsdot.wa.gov