The National Work Zone Information Clearinghouse is hosting the National Traffic Management & Work Zone Safety Conference in October. This conference will connect national transportation leaders with representatives from all levels of government and private industry to discuss the challenges of, and cutting-edge solutions to, work zone safety.
“As a forum for information exchange, the conference will help improve the safe movement of traffic under many different roadway conditions,” explains Brad Sant, vice president of Safety and Education for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Partners supporting the conference include ARTBA’s Transportation Development Foundation, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). Other organizations providing support include the National Asphalt Pavement Association, the Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America, the International Union of Operating Engineers, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and CNA Insurance.
In conjunction with the conference, the Clearinghouse will also unveil its new and improved website, www.workzonesafety.org, in October 2007. The site’s new design and enhanced content will provide a number of features to better serve the wide range of users that regularly come to the Clearinghouse for information. Training webinars and other types of digital video segments on work zone safety topics will now be accessible online. A free registration system is being developed that will allow users to request certain types of information ‘pushed’ to them as it becomes available.
Registered users will also have the opportunity to participate in an electronic listserve to ask questions and share thoughts and ideas on all types of work zone issues. As part of the redesign effort, the large amounts of information that have been collected over the nine-year existence of the Clearinghouse are being updated and transferred to a more effective database management platform.
“These new functions will allow the Clearinghouse to be an even better resource for its users, and help to make work zones as safe as possible for all motorists and highway workers,” explains Gerald Ullman, manager of TTI’s Work Zone and Dynamic Message Sign Program, who oversees operation of the Clearinghouse by TTI for ARTBA and FHWA.
For more information about the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse or the National Traffic Management & Work Zone Conference please contact Brad Sant, ARTBA’s vice president of Safety and Education, at bsant@artba.org or (202) 289-4434, ext. 309.
