Benefit-Cost Analysis of Portable Concrete Barrier Use in Work Zones to Protect Against Intrusion Crashes

The objective of this study was to evaluate the benefits and costs associated with the use of portable concrete barriers (PCBs) in work zones to protect workers and equipment against intrusion crashes. This study used an encroachment-based tool; the Roadside Safety Analysis Program (RSAP) to perform the analysis. Researchers customized certain aspects of RSAP to make it more suitable for a work zone analysis. This included current PCB costs, comprehensive crash costs, and adjustment to encroachment rate to represent a work zone situation. Unlike previous efforts that modeled individual workers and equipment as spot hazards, researchers chose to represent the entire work area as a single hazard for this study. The analysis found that for high speed multilane freeway facilities where work is occurring immediately adjacent to travel lanes, intrusion crash costs savings alone can justify PCB protection once the roadway ADT approaches 40,000 vpd over a year-long work zone, so long as there are constant hazards in the work space being protected by barrier.