ATSSA releases connected arrow board benefits resource

Connected arrow boards offer several advantages for work zone safety, a message ATSSA is helping spread through a new one-page flyer available for free download.

The Iowa Department of Transportation (IowaDOT) has required the use of connected arrow boards on all interstate and state highway projects since 2022 as reported in a feature about smart arrow boards in Roadway Safety magazine.

The Connected Arrow Boards flyer was created by the Work Zone ITS Subcommittee of ATSSA’s Temporary Traffic Control TTC Committee and approved by the full committee at its February meeting. It notes that more than 3,000 connected arrow boards are already in use on roads and lists seven benefits of the devices:

• Know where lane closures are in real time.​
• Alert drivers of which way to merge.​
• Reduce crashes before a closure/taper.
• Log when lane closures happened.​
• Add to any existing equipment in less than an hour​.
• Nothing new to learn for field personnel.​
• Real-time data using Work Zone Data Exchange WZDx protocols for active lane closures.

“We believe this new resource will be helpful in raising awareness of the value of these safety devices for roadway work zones,” said ATSSA’s Innovation & Technical Services Manager Melodie Matout. “Our hope is that our members and roadway safety partners will utilize it to spread the word to decision makers in companies, departments of transportation and legislators. The goal, of course, is to utilize every tool possible to help save lives in roadway work zones – the lives of both workers and the traveling public.”

In 2021, 956 people were killed and an estimated 42,000 were injured in roughly 106,000 work zone crashes nationwide, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. Each year, the majority of people killed in work zone crashes are drivers and their passengers.