Work Zone Mobility and Safety Self-Assessment Guide

2. Conducting the Self-Assessment

Based on comments from the Work Zone Field Team, accomplishment of the WZ SA will be done in the following manner. A comprehensive assessment and scoring process will take place every 2 years. This process should involve your State transportation partners in a group exercise that considers and scores all sections of the WZ SA. This is the process that should have taken place during the initial WZ SA conducted between October 2002 and January 2003. The years between the 2-year cycle shall be considered an update assessment and can be accomplished by updating the scores in those areas where the State's practices have changed. To determine the section scores during the update assessment, the Division can use direct observation of work zone practices, staff interviews, or both when providing the new scores.

When conducting a comprehensive assessment the WZ SA process works best as a group exercise and should be facilitated by a Division Office representative. To get the most out of the meeting, facilitators should read the Work Zone Mobility and Safety Self-Assessment Facilitator Guide. Table 1 provides some brief suggestions.

To gather insight from as many perspectives as possible, involve stakeholders from every aspect of the transportation development and delivery process.

Before the assessment exercise, provide this guide and the scoring template to each invited participant. Ask each participant to read the guide, consider the questions, and score each question given the level of application in each topic area. Encourage participants to bring their score sheets and the guide to the assessment exercise for reference.

After the welcome and introductions, review each topic area before proceeding to the actual assessment questions. Then, encourage open discussion on each assessment question and identify at what level this activity or process is being accomplished.

Because of the complexity of operational, economical, and political issues that affect the response to any of the assessment items, please emphasize that "one size does not fit all conditions" and be aware of the constraints that transportation agencies have in each topic item area.

Table 1. Suggestions for the Self-Assessment

Assemble a team of participants that is fully versed in planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating the transportation system.

Provide participants with the assessment guide and score sheet in advance so that they may become familiar with the questions and the basis for the questions.

Ask the participants to bring their score sheets and guide with them to the assessment exercise.

Have a designated facilitator for the meeting(s).

Encourage open discussion about each topic area to better understand the participants' responses.

Discuss the final score in each topic section and collect information on any practices, policies, and procedures that are proving successful for the participant in reducing congestion and crashes in work zones.

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