New construction site standard
Highway construction sites pose risks for road users and construction workers alike. Increased traffic and inattentive drivers endanger construction workers and employees of the freeway maintenance depots. The Federal Roads Office (FEDRO) is addressing these risks with a new construction site standard.
The new construction site standard has applied to all construction sites on the national road network since January 1, 2018. The aim is to make freeway construction sites safer for everyone. At the same time, traffic is to be made more fluid and roadwork congestion further minimized.
Responsible for one percent of congestion hours
Congestion due to road works has been reduced to a minimum on the national road network in recent years. Last year, construction sites were only responsible for just over one percent of congestion hours, mainly thanks to consistent night and weekend work. Nevertheless, there is further potential for improvement in Safety and traffic flow. The new construction site standard is intended to improve safety for both road users and workers on construction sites. At the same time, the new measures will allow traffic to flow more smoothly through the construction site area.
The new standard was developed by the Swiss Association of Road and Traffic Professionals (VSS) was developed in close cooperation with FEDRO. The key points are the visibility of the signalization, the safeguarding of the construction site, wider lanes and safe traffic routing. At the same time, the standard shows how these aspects can be coordinated with each other and when which measures must be used.
Innovations for daily construction sites
In order to make road users even more aware of daytime road works and to make them safer, the standard provides for various additional measures (see pictures in the enclosed fact sheet):
- Warning thresholds, which are placed on the roadway or breakdown lane before the construction site is closed off, jolt the vehicle and alert distracted drivers to the obstacle before an accident occurs.
- The barrier vehicles are equipped with mobile impact absorbers. This prevents the signalization vehicle from being catapulted forward in the event of a collision and thus endangering workers. Likewise, in the event of a collision, the consequences for the errant vehicle driver are mitigated.
- In addition to the usual signalization vehicles, intelligibility for vehicle drivers is improved, if necessary, by mobile overhead signalization.
- Speed reductions for work on the carriageway have long proven to be in everyone's interest. Now, the speed will also be reduced for work on the emergency lane.
Fact sheet with details of the construction site standard
Text: ASTRA
