Towards smart work zones: Creating safe and efficient work zones in the technology era

• Published in: Journal of safety research 2023-12, Vol.87, p.345-366
• Main Authors: Venthuruthiyil, Suvin P., Thapa, Diwas, Mishra, Sabyasachee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Highway safety technologies; Intelligent transportation system; Latent Dirichlet Allocation; Literature review study; Worker adaptation
• ISSN: 0022-4375; 1879-1247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsr.2023.08.006

•Identifies potential safety systems for smart work zones and summarizes their performance reported in the literature.•Recommends future research directions for establishing smart work zones.•Technology cost and portability, and lack of implementation guidelines have hindered the use of smart work zone systems.•Adopting more practical approaches to worker training and adaptation is necessary before smart sfety systems are implemented. Introduction: Work Zones (WZs) have long been identified as a source of traffic fatalities and delays. Despite considerable technological advances that have alleviated many operational challenges associated with a WZ, social concerns about safety and mobility near WZs remain. Notably, the concept of a Smart Work Zone (SWZ) emerged from the compelling need to improve the safety and mobility of traffic and other WZ participants. This study reviewed the literature to assimilate studies related to SWZ Systems (SWZSs), report their findings, and ascertain a future path forward. Method: To accomplish this, the existing WZ-related literature base was clustered into safety and traffic mobility topics using Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) modeling. A thorough investigation of the pivotal inferences for the research topics was undertaken to comprehend current SWZ technologies and the need for further research. Results: The review uncovered the prominent features of SWZSs reported in the literature and the hindrances to their adoption. The most reported hindrances are the cost and effort associated with development, installation, and relocation. We uncover that Connected Autonomous Vehicles, vehicle-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, along with technology-based worker training are the most promising next frontier for SWZ. Conclusion: Significant research gaps exist in the literature regarding developing and implementing SWZS. Additionally, little effort has been directed toward developing workers’ skills and competency. Practical approaches such as Virtual Reality (VR)-based training are necessary to bring workers up to pace with the developing SWZ technologies. Practical Applications: Future research should be directed towards interconnecting and implementing available safety technologies to automate WZ safety and management. Workers should be trained using more practical techniques. In this context, using VR will enable the simulation of hazardous events in a safe environment while also improving workers’ skill