Traffic and Construction Zones: Illinois Institute of Technology Takes On Highway Safety
IIT Professor awarded $1.03M 4-Year Grant
Improving safety for construction workers and drivers at construction work zones is the focus of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Dr. Jonathan Shi’s four-year highway safety research initiative. With aging highways needing more repairs and reconstruction, the number of work zones on this nation's roads will increase, as well as the risk to construction workers and drivers, and very likely the number of injuries and fatalities. Dr. Shi's work aims to stem this potential trend.
Shi, associate professor of civil and architectural engineering at IIT, was awarded a grant from the Federal Highway Administration, Illinois Department of Transportation and the State of Utah Local Technical Assistance Program Center. The $1.03 million will be used to update national highway work zone safety audit guidelines, establish a training program for implementing the new audit guidelines and promote best practices for preventing work zone injuries and fatalities.
"The trends of growing traffic, increased road work, and public frustration with work zones have contributed to the growing work zone safety concerns. Traffic delays and vehicle crashes in work zones have resulted in significant economic consequences affecting the construction, trucking and insurance industries," said Shi. "Work zone fatalities increased by nearly 50% between 1997 and 2004. In 2004 alone, there were approximately 115,000 work zone crashes and approximately 49,620 people injured in work zone crashes."
With the FHWA award as its foundation, IIT is leading the initiative to create a consortium—to include transportation agencies; construction, trucking and insurance companies; and universities-dedicated to providing comprehensive long-term solutions to WZ safety. Center for Work Zone Safety will be the first of its kind in the country.
"Much of the nation’s highway system is more than 30 years old. One third of the roads in urban areas are traveled under congested conditions. Our research and initiatives will identify, discover, and advocate new technologies, best practices, and innovative products for improving work zone safety. We aim to find comprehensive long-term solutions for work zone safety," added Shi.
Founded in 1890, IIT is a Ph.D.-granting university with more than 6,700 students in engineering, sciences, architecture, psychology, design, humanities, business and law. IIT's interprofessional, technology-focused curriculum is designed to advance knowledge through research and scholarship, to cultivate invention improving the human condition, and to prepare students from throughout the world for a life of professional achievement, service to society, and individual fulfillment.
