Institute for Transportation

About the research

The primary goal of this project was to develop a statewide system that integrates data from various sources utilizing the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Work Zone Activity Data (WZAD) framework and dictionary. The WZAD framework identified 50 different use cases, which involved 27 different stakeholders. The approach for Iowa was to identify a select number of use cases that could be initially implemented or further explored.

After identifying essential use cases for implementation in Iowa, all of the use cases within the framework and data elements from the data dictionary were organized in an interactive Excel file. The interactive Excel file was used to prioritize the use cases for Iowa. By focusing on a small number of use cases, the amount of data needed and the number of relevant stakeholders were reduced, making the initial implementation of the statewide work zone data hub more manageable.

Two of the top five use cases were implemented in the statewide data hub. A third one was completed by the Iowa Department of Transportation’s (DOT’s) Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS), and another was placed on hold based on subsequent agency priorities. The fifth use case was explored, and the project team recommends that the Iowa DOT continue to explore methods of collecting the data for that use case and put the data in a database for future analysis.

The expectation is that the Iowa Work Zone Data Hub will continue to be refined as additional use cases are added to the system. The project team expects that a cyclical effort can be done based on priority use cases for the Iowa DOT to continue to grow and expand their work zone data hub.