As government agencies increasingly explore how technology can make roadways safer, real-time data has been found to help reduce fatalities.
As explained by Trey Tillander, FDOT executive director of transportation technology, in a written response, the project will take place for about a year, ending June 2023, and aims to increase road safety for drivers and workers through the use of real-time work zone information.
“Some success criteria that FDOT is planning to monitor are the number of participating third-party navigation apps, trucking applications or OEMs displaying lane closure information; accuracy of the information provided; and work zone injuries and fatalities that may be reduced,” said Tillander.
This work involves one.network’s Live Link application, which lets work zone supervisors in the state map closures and deliver real-time alerts about the status of work zones.
James Harris, founder and CEO of one.network, explained that Live Link allows work crews to input lane closure information as soon as the first cone is placed. Additionally, they can indicate temporary speed restrictions and the number of workers present in a specific zone. The tool leverages the on-the-ground knowledge of the workers at these sites.
After the construction supervisors input this information, Tillander explained that it is then shared with third-party navigation app providers, and those providers publish the data for road users through various apps.
“That’s really important so that the nav app providers — Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, those sorts of companies — they really start to [automatically] trust the data when they see that it matches real-time traffic patterns that are observed through their existing technology,” he said.
For work zone supervisors and FDOT employees, the new tool will not be a significant change in operations, Tillander explained, although it did require some education. Construction supervisors will only be required to input data as they close or open lanes, before doing so, they must complete a training and quiz to demonstrate competence. Inspectors also take training to verify the information. Department employees oversee and manage user accounts and access.
While the company has experience working in the U.K., this is the first partnership of this scale with a government entity in the U.S., Harris said.
With the pilot covering all planned construction sites across FDOT’s seven regional districts — representing more than 12,000 miles of state road — hiring a Florida-based team helped to support a smooth rollout process. Harris also underlined the role of the Florida Transportation Builders' Association, the organization that represents the state’s construction crews, as a partner in this project.
Tillander said that being a standalone system, it did not require any change management for existing systems. Internal FDOT change management processes were required for standard specification updates and data governance. Furthermore, FDOT will follow mature change management processes if the agency integrates the platform to other systems, such as FDOT’s Traffic Management Center Software.
If the pilot project is successful, there is a possibility to implement some of the other technologies in the company’s suite to further improve transportation in the state.
And, as Harris noted, the future of transportation is likely to change dramatically in the years to come, and this technology could help support that: “We’re very conscious that this provision of information is going to be absolutely vital in an autonomous future.”
