The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) and the Maricopa County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) a $970,000 Accelerated Innovation Deployment (AID) Demonstration grant.
The agencies will use the funding to strategically purchase and deploy freeway and arterial technology. The goal is to keep motorists and workers safe in construction and maintenance work zones.
Smart work zone technologies include emergency light alerts to warn travelers of construction and emergency vehicles, impact alert barricades, intelligent cones to transmit work zone data, intelligent cones to warn workers if a vehicle enters the construction area, smart arrow boards with real-time traffic information alerts, and smart rumble strips that are activated based on traffic flow to warn motorists to slow down.
“Safety has always been ADOT’s top priority, and new technologies are powerful tools to help us expand our efforts in work zones,” Greg Byres, ADOT state engineer and deputy director for transportation, said. “This grant will help ADOT and MCDOT make work zones even safer for the public and road workers, while also giving drivers real-time information when it’s most needed.”
The agencies have successfully deployed smart work zone technologies on previous projects, including four projects this year.