An ICT project is included in the AASHTO Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Value of Research task force’s public relations brochure on high value research. The brochure was prepared for the AASHTO Standing Committee on Research, for whom RAC serves as an advisory body, and for State DOT CEOs. Each state was asked to submit their high value research efforts to their RAC Region Chair for consideration for inclusion in the brochure. Each region then voted on their top four projects. Balloting among the nine states in Region 3 (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) resulted in the ICT study, “Speed Photo-Enforcement in Illinois Work Zones”, being selected as one of the top regional high value research projects.
The Principal Investigator for “Speed Photo Enforcement in Illinois Work Zones” was Dr. Rahim Benekohal of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The objective of the project was to determine the effectiveness of speed photo-radar enforcement in work zones as compared to traditional enforcement methods such as police presence and speed indicator signs. Speed photo-radar enforcement was found to be most effective at reducing speeds for both cars and trucks. As a result, Illinois has implemented speed photo-radar enforcement statewide in work zones using specially trained state police officers to deploy vans equipped with speed photo-radar enforcement equipment, review and approve violations for citation issuance, and appear in court for adjudication of all approved work zone citations. The final report for this project may be viewed at http://ict.illinois.edu/Publications/report%20files/FHWA-ICT-10-064.pdf.