Highway Safety
Safety should remain a federal and state priority. Highway reconstruction is increasingly being done under traffic conditions. The safety of industry employees and motorists in these construction work zones is of special concern to ARTBA. To that end, ARTBA strongly encourages and supports:
- The continuation of the Highway Safety Improvement Program and prioritization of funds from this program to be primarily used for infrastructure safety activities, including devices and equipment that provide positive separation of construction site workers from nearby traffic.
- Requirements that mandate any reconstruction project should contain, as a component, restoration of safety features to enhance the level of safety performance.
- Effective traffic control plans should be implemented, traffic control devices and other appurtenances should be properly maintained. ARTBA supports federal encouragement of training, education and voluntary certification programs for personnel responsible for traffic control at highway construction sites.
- Experience has shown that public awareness programs aimed at motorists, which can help reduce the number of accidents in work sites. ARTBA encourages the U.S. DOT and all state transportation departments to initiate and/or continue these programs.
- The use of new technologies and new policies that reduce or eliminate safety risks for field users in the work zone, such as remote viewing of project sites, designs, and as-builts.
Innovative Technologies & Materials
To accelerate the introduction of better materials and more efficient designs, equipment and technologies into transportation development, states should be given the latitude to test and utilize new and innovative technologies, including those with intellectual propriety rights protections, on federal-aid highway projects without prior approval from the FHWA.
Federal surface transportation law should encourage, but not mandate, the use of recycled materials in federal-aid highway projects when it is economical and technologically feasible and applied research has provided adequate assurance that human health, safety, the environment and quality are not compromised. Design criteria should not be lowered to allow the use of recycled materials.