Nighttime Construction Impacts on Safety, Quality, and Productivity

Project status

Completed

Start date: 05/07/09
End date: 12/31/11

Researcher(s)

Principal investigators:

• Jennifer Shane | 515-294-1703 | jsshane@iastate.edu (project list)

About the research

Nighttime construction and maintenance activities are becoming more predominant in the transportation agencies across the United States. Concern over the impact of nighttime activities on risk, illumination, nuisances, productivity, quality, cost, safety, and communications, compared to daytime activities, has inhibited its use by some agencies.

Through a multi-method approach of literature, survey, case studies (with semi-structured interviews), and field data collection, the discrepancies between nighttime and daytime activities were found to be minimal. With early identification of issues and good planning, beginning in early project development, the advantages of nighttime construction can outweigh the difficulties and yield a successful project.

The main objective of this project was to develop comprehensive guidelines for the conduct of nighttime highway construction and maintenance operations. Transportation agencies can use the guidebook that was developed in planning and conducting nighttime construction projects. The final report documents how the research was concucted.

Publications

Report: A Guidebook for Nighttime Construction: Impacts on Safety, Quality, and Productivity (NA pdf) February 2012

Related publication: Nighttime Construction Impacts on Safety, Quality, and Productivity (0 pdf) Dec 2011

Sponsor(s)/partner(s)

Sponsor(s): National Cooperative Highway Research Program