The agreement allows all public-sector agencies in the United States to easily procure the company’s data sharing solutions that will let them manage their work zones and create WZDx feeds. one.network was part of a small group to help USDOT develop WZDx and continues helping steer the initiative today.
one.network, an innovative road management software as a service (SaaS) technology provider, today announced the company has been selected by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), to provide work zone data sharing solutions for its member communities and US transportation agencies via the TXShare Cooperative Purchasing Program.
one.network’s selection is an important part of the region’s strategy to keep workers and drivers safe, as the agreement gives member agencies the opportunity to use the company’s software to share work zone data through the national Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDX). WZDX will provide that information to GPS app providers, regional agencies and key third parties. The contract also dramatically simplifies the procurement process for public-sector agencies by extending access to any interested agency that can benefit from it. The contract satisfies Uniform Guidance 2.CFR.200 regulations, with the promise that one.network software will be as seamless and simple to procure and deploy, as it is to operate.
“With simple installation and intuitive operation, our software allows traffic managers to digitize work zones for increased safety and efficiency. We know many of the communities operate with small traffic management staffs and we are committed to not wasting their time with complicated procurement and operations protocols. While we recognize one size never fits all in transportation, we want to deliver an out of the box solution with all the components readily available.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
NCTCOG is a collaborative planning organization centered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, serving 16 counties and more than 230 local governments including cities, special districts and school districts. It also operates the TXShare Cooperative Purchasing Program to maximize the efficiencies of public procurement and allow access to dynamic contract offerings. Craigan Johnson, Senior Purchasing Manager for NCTCOG said the contract award is a win for all involved.
“The NCTCOG recognized the benefits of being able to capture and analyze WZDx data, and how such technologies will become instrumental in the safety and efficiencies of tomorrow’s roadways. Understanding that WZDx data has become instrumental for roadway users, we saw the opportunity to make these services available to any public sector agency that desires to access them.”
– Craigan Johnson, Senior Purchasing Manager, NCTCOG
one.network is one of the most experienced and respected work zone data software companies in the world. Company leaders were among a small group to help frame the US Department of Transportation’s Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) and through continued leadership of key WZDx committees, is continuing to help steer the initiative’s evolution.
The work that one.network will bring to the Dallas-Fort Worth area goes well beyond WZDx. For road agencies that need to generate and/or enrich their digital work zone data, one.network’s Traffic Management module can generate detailed information that is essential for GPS services, including the precise extent of road and lane closures, temporary speed restrictions and detour routes. one.network’s intuitive, map-based interface is simple to use and removes any technical barrier for data entry, allowing all teams within an agency to collaborate under a single operational view. In addition, one.network is bringing a full team to the effort including technical and project directors, project managers, WZDx data feed engineers and even marketing strategists.
“At one.network, we know work zones are among the most dangerous places on any road network. We’re committed to driver safety and protecting the lives of workers. This agreement with NCTCOG has massive potential to do just that.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
For more information on WZDx or one.network, and its solutions, download this free eBook.
In transportation and traffic management, all contracts aren’t equal. A few have far-reaching implications as is the case with one.network’s new agreement with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG).
NCTCOG was looking for an experienced firm to provide Roadway Work Zone Data Reporting Services to its TXShare Program, and when one.network won the award, the agreement unlocked massive potential to save lives, and do it cost effectively within the Dallas-Fort Worth area. NCTCOG is a collaborative planning organization, serving 16 counties and more than 230 local governments including cities, special districts and school districts. TXShare is a cooperative purchasing program with a goal of providing a procurement system delivering best practices and vetted companies. It’s a perfect fit for one.network which is currently providing statewide work zone data sharing services to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), with plans to announce similar agreements in the near future.
“NCTCOG understands the value of coordinated procurement. We’ve used this approach with great success in the United Kingdom where we help manage work zone data across more than 90% of all agencies, and now, we’re excited to bring that same value to our new colleagues in North Central Texas.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
Even though one.network is relatively new to the U.S. transportation marketplace, the company’s decade-long experience in Europe and its leadership in helping to establish the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) protocol speaks to the company’s maturity in the space. When USDOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) began working on WZDx as a new safety initiative, which was the first real attempt to share work zone data across the country, one.network was an early adopter. The company delivered the first statewide WZDx feed to NCDOT in January 2022 and has continued to help them maintain their leadership position as the standard evolves. one.network’s Chief Product Officer Adam Graham is currently co-chairing two crucial WZDx committees that are steering that evolution, an important factor in ensuring North Central Texas remains on the cutting edge of work zone data sharing technology.
“We have seen the benefit of standardization across the ecosystem in the U.K. We appreciate that the United States operates differently and we’re very respectful of state and even local jurisdictions, but building road networks where everyone has the greatest awareness and access to the broadest data is an efficiency builder and potentially, a lifesaver. We applaud NCTCOG for taking a regional view of work zone safety and we’re excited to bring our expertise to bear.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
The work that one.network will bring to the Dallas-Fort Worth area goes well beyond WZDx. For road agencies that need to generate and/or enrich their digital work zone data, one.network’s Traffic Management module can generate detailed information that is essential for GPS services, including the precise extent of road and lane closures, temporary speed restrictions and detour routes. one.network’s intuitive, map-based interface is simple to use and removes any technical barrier for data entry, allowing all teams within an agency to collaborate under a single operational view. That’s a far cry from where traffic management has landed in recent years. Gone are the often confusing, always complicated multiple dashboards that have become ubiquitous in traffic management centers throughout the United States.
“Efficiency shouldn’t be just for the people who use the roads, it should also be for the people who manage them.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
one.network is bringing a full team to the effort including technical and project directors, project managers, WZDx data feed engineers and even marketing strategists. The idea is for the one.network software to be just as seamless and simple for NCTCOG members to procure and deploy, as it is to operate.
“We know many of the communities operate with small traffic management staffs and we are committed to not wasting their time with complicated procurement and operations protocols. While we recognize one size never fits all in transportation, we want to deliver an out of the box solution with all the components readily available, including our team.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
As part of the agreement, one.network will provide a sales team to help NCTCOG explain the need for consistently timely and accurate, cross jurisdictional work zone data sharing. The plan is to deliver presentations and offer workshops to make sure prospective NCTCOG users are comfortable with the software and its application. While the goal is to build out a comprehensive work zone data sharing solution across the Dallas-Fort Worth region, the program isn’t defined by borders. one.network expects to make major announcements about other agreements in the Southwest United States in the next few months and through TXShare, the procurement protocol has a chance to expand throughout the state of Texas, and to other states as well.
“This contract is so important, not just in North Central Texas, but as an opportunity to create a broad work zone safety and efficiency network throughout the state and beyond.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
It was a week worthy of a Hollywood premiere! The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) World Congress in Los Angeles, California brought together industry leaders and private companies who are driving the future of transportation. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti opened the event, welcoming more than 6,000 people from 64 countries to the Los Angeles Convention Center, a massive accomplishment in a world still reeling from COVID-19.
Led by Founder and CEO James Harris, one.network’s UK delegation included Chief Commercial Officer Simon Topp, Chief Product Officer Adam Graham, VP of Marketing Garry Thorton and former Managing Director, Surface Transport at Transport for London and company advisor Leon Daniels. From the American team, VP of North America Barry Matlack, Director of the Western U.S. Rob Foster and Sales Director Ken Selvig, helped manage the robust traffic at our booth.
With much of the ITS World Congress conversation centering on protecting road users, it was a perfect opportunity for our one.network team to celebrate our recent safety collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), putting our Live Link app in the hands of trained personnel in every road construction work zone (eventually more than 500 in total) managed by the agency. Live Link allows authorized workers to open and close lanes using a mobile phone app, delivering information directly to GPS mapping providers, right from the work zone. For the first time, work crews can have a significant role in managing their own safety.
In addition to important conversations with FDOT representatives in attendance, the Florida initiative created a buzz among attendees, generating multiple conversations with other potential customers. The team also spent valuable time in the Demo Area, watching new one.network partner, HAAS Alert, performing a live demonstration of their Safety Cloud platform as it provided drivers with crucial information directly from emergency vehicles.
One of the cornerstones of any ITS event is the opportunity to share insight and provide thought leadership through speaking opportunities and panel discussions. As a flattering sign of one.network’s elevation in the American market, James Harris, Simon Topp and Adam Graham were all invited to speak. James shared insight from one.network’s European experience that could have implications for agencies in the U.S., Simon discussed the Florida DOT collaboration as an example of technology saving lives in a connected world and Adam shared how one.network is using data to help drive Vision Zero outcomes.
For all, L.A. was an important moment. The ITS World Congress bull-horned that the transportation industry is back and open for business. For one.network, as a leading provider of work zone and event data, it completely validated our place in the American market, demonstrated by the general interest in our solutions and the conversations we had with potential customers. The interactions have pivoted from the early days of “who are you and why should I care?” to “I’ve heard about what you’re doing, and can we set up a call?” The answer to that question is always, “when and where?”
If you’re interested in learning more about Live Link, our broader platform or any of our work zone, incident and event management offerings, please contact us.
one.network, an innovative road management software as a service (SaaS) technology provider, today announced a new partnership with HAAS Alert to integrate work zone information into Safety Cloud®, the industry-leading V2X platform for real-time road hazard data. The marriage of one.network’s platform and Live Link software with HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud will allow road crews in work zones to deliver real-time alerts with unprecedented accuracy directly into vehicles and to drivers, adding a critical layer of road safety and collision prevention for crews in the field.
one.network Chief Product Officer Adam Graham says this collaboration showcases both companies’ commitment to saving the lives of workers and the drivers who transition through work zones.
“We both recognized the potential to maximize our products through this partnership. The result is a first in transportation – a simple intuitive solution that delivers important safety information with unparalleled speed and accuracy, right into the dash of drivers approaching work zones.”
– Adam Graham, Chief Product Officer, one.network
one.network’s platform offers the most advanced solution available today for planning, authorizing, and managing road construction projects. Working directly with WAZE and Google Maps among others, the company’s Live Link solution allows agencies and work crews to deliver information on lane closures and openings, and even whether workers are present, all with the push of a button on one.network’s Live Link app. Projects and work zones marked as “Active” through one.network’s Live Link module will connect directly to Safety Cloud, delivering real-time “Slow Down, Move Over” alerts to drivers and motorists approaching work zones. The collaboration will be part of a major pilot this fall as the Florida Department of Transportation deploys Live Link throughout the state.
Safety Cloud by HAAS Alert is a real-time Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) platform that delivers digital alerts from active roadway hazards, including emergency vehicles and roadway infrastructure, to consumer vehicles and navigation applications. Millions of drivers across the country today receive real-time digital alerts from fire apparatus, police vehicles, ambulances, towing and recovery trucks, and other Safety Cloud-equipped vehicles through popular navigation applications and via the infotainment screens of select vehicles including Jeep, Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler. Safety Cloud alerts provide drivers with advance warning of upcoming hazards and have been shown to reduce the likelihood of collisions by up to 90%.
Cory Hohs, CEO and Co-Founder of HAAS Alert, says that the new partnership is a natural fit for Safety Cloud.
“For the thousands of roadway agencies and operators alerting on our platform every day , digital alerting is more than just an exciting use case for vehicle-to-vehicle technology; it’s a lifesaving tool that helps prevent collisions and get people home safely. one.network shares our commitment to building a safer and more connected transportation ecosystem, and we’re excited to bring the benefits of direct-to-vehicle digital alerting to the agencies and companies that trust one.network to plan and execute their work every day.”
– Cory Hohs, CEO and Founder, HAAS Alert
For more information on one.network and its solutions, visit us.one.network
Since announcing our state-wide work zone safety pilot with Florida Department of Transportation, it’s been great to see the interest and momentum this project has sparked within the transportation and ITS industries, as well as among the public.
Check out the following news articles:
📰 American Journal of Transportation
The project has been warmly welcomed by drivers across Florida who believe this initiative is a worthy investment to improve safety on the roadways.
This near-instant positive feedback makes it evident that people are aware of the importance of saving lives around work zones and value the implementation of new methods and technologies to help achieve this.
Watch what local news and residents had to say:
🎥 NBC 2
🎥 ABC 27
Our partner FDOT is thrilled with the reception of this project and is now even more confident that it will bring relief to many drivers across the state.
“…Really giving peace of mind that when they get on the road, they don’t have to do anything other than turn on their favorite navigational app, put that phone down and be able to drive and know that there’ll be real-time, accurate information for them as they travel on the state highway system.”
– Ian Satter, Public Information Director, FDOT
We can’t wait to see our technology being rolled out over 500 work zones across the state in the next few months and are delighted with the public response so far.
Learn more about our real-time lane closure solution, Live Link.
Work zone safety is a deep passion for one.network. To show our support for National Work Zone Awareness Week 2022, we’ve put together this brief video including our CEO James Harris and some of our friends including Chuck Yorks, Traffic Operations Specialist at Gannett Fleming, and Jane Terry, Vice President at the National Safety Council. They discuss both the problems and the solutions that can get us to a Vision Zero future.
National Work Zone Awareness Week began in 2000 as a way for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to bring much-needed national attention to motorist and worker safety in the work zone. Next week, April 11 – 15, we’ll observe it once again to broaden and increase that awareness. There is, however, another FHWA program that needs critical attention right now that can help get us closer to a Vision Zero reality: WZDx.
WZDx is a bold initiative and a crucial part of the future of transportation. Formally, it’s called the Work Zone Data Exchange and if you’re not aware of it, you may be missing one of the most fundamental building blocks of a successful road management strategy.
We can all agree that moving forward, our industry will be about safety, connectivity, efficiency, economy, and the environment. As ITS America members and solution providers, our products usually address most of those themes in different ways at different times. WZDx addresses all five at once. That’s why the FHWA WZDx initiative is so important.
This is America’s first attempt to standardize and share work zone information across the entire nation and it comes with dramatic implications for the connected present and the autonomous future.
At one.network, we believe that sharing accurate and timely work zone information is critical. We’ve been all-in on WZDx since its early days and as the current co-chair for both the WZDx Work Zone Data Working Group and the Specification Update Subgroup, I’ve had the chance to watch its development from the inside. Because my company provides agencies with real-time work zone, incident, and event mapping software, we’re uniquely positioned to see the advantages of a national strategy and recognize the existing information vacuum it will fill for not only agencies but the traveling public as well.
Work Zones are dynamic and shift as projects progress. Up until now, the accuracy and completeness of work zone data has been all over the map, if they even made it onto the map in the first place! Often, applications like Google and Waze know more about neighboring jurisdictions than agencies do. It’s a function of priorities and budgets that sometimes force road authorities to be reactive, rather than proactive for the greater good. As a result, public and agency information on detours, road openings, and lane closures often lag, and more than a few times, we’ve seen information that was days behind reality. It’s understandable, but it’s fixable.
FHWA and the many private and public organizations supporting the cause are now creating WZDx feeds to reflect work zone closures and detours across the nation. The implications for the future of the five characteristics I mentioned at the top of this blog are profound.
1. Safety – Each year, approximately 800 people die and thousands are injured in work zone crashes. Many of those incidents occur because drivers aren’t aware they are about to encounter a work zone. Enhancing and broadly disseminating information can divert road users away from work zones, reducing unnecessary interactions and saving lives.
2. Connectivity – Accurate work zone data syndicated to onboard navigation systems will be a baseline expectation as vehicles become more connected, and will be even more crucial in a fully autonomous future.
3. Efficiency – Arming drivers with the information to manage their own routes and when possible, avoid work zones completely, will reduce congestion and build network efficiency.
4. Economy – Drivers will save time and gas by avoiding congestion and reducing the number of vehicles in work zones. Agencies could see reduced construction times because of fewer vehicle incursions.
5. Environment – We’ve all experienced congestion around work zones. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, idling personal vehicles generate a staggering 30 million tons of CO2 every year.
It’s obvious that WZDx makes sense financially, socially, and ecologically, but I recognize that some agencies have budget constraints or competing priorities that could prevent them from creating their own WZDx feeds. It can be expensive and time-consuming, but there are options – and that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. For example, at one.network, we’re creating free WZDx feeds for any U.S. agency that wants one. There’s no obligation to sample or buy anything because for us, this is a “right side of history” issue. In early January, FHWA approved our feed for agency use, and later that month, the North Carolina’s Department of Transportation accepted our offer and became the first in the nation to provide statewide work zone data to the WZDx Exchange.
If you represent an agency, please know that whether you build your own WZDx feed or work with an outside resource, you’ll be part of an important initiative to save lives, increase efficiency, and contribute to the CAV future of transportation. I encourage you to get on board because designing the future of mobility comes with great opportunity as well as great responsibility.
On an average day, two people die in American work zones. Like many statistics about death, some people absorb it and move on. But let that figure sink in. Read an obituary or watch a news story about someone losing their life on a construction site. The statistic is a tragedy.
Shawn Dick was a volunteer firefighter and at 32 years old, he was the father of four young children. On Feb. 1, at 4:57 a.m., he was driving a brightly lit work zone crash truck on I-81 in Virginia, protecting crews as they were putting out cones, when he was rear ended by a tractor trailer. In an instant, he became one of the approximately 750 work zone fatalities that occur on America’s roads each year.
In the surface transportation industry, statistics are ubiquitous and often shrouded in acronyms. The national tool for reporting and analyzing vehicle deaths is called FARS, a benign acronym that belies the seriousness of its mission as America’s Fatality Analysis
Reporting System. Somehow, a conversation about numbers and statistics may be more comfortable than a discussion about people and families, but perhaps it is time to be uncomfortable, because every time a number is added to FARS, someone does not come home.
Transportation leaders embrace the goals of Vision Zero to eliminate all traffic fatalities, but no conversation on reducing deaths is complete without addressing the most dangerous place on our roads—the work zone. This is why the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) initiative is so crucial to roadway safety.
Managing work zones
Work zone safety is a national concern, but work zone management is hyper-local. With 50 independent and sometimes siloed departments of transportation—along with many more regional or city-based authorities—standardization of approach, collaboration, and data-sharing are historically rare. This is to the peril of people who make their living maintaining and repairing our roads.
In many countries, transportation industry standardization and the benefits that come with it are much easier to achieve. Traffic management software developer one.network was founded a decade ago in the U.K. to provide real-time work zone, incident, and event mapping for agencies, the media, and the driving public. While there are dozens of different traffic authorities across the country, all adhere to and benefit from more common and institutionalized standards. If someone wants to travel from London in south central England to the northernmost reaches of Scotland, they can count on a regularly updated and accurate map highlighting work zone locations, duration, and detours to help them along the way. They can also choose to avoid work zones altogether.
Obviously, the U.K. is much smaller than the U.S., but the safety implications of standardization are clear. The more drivers are aware of work zones, the less the chance of a crash, and the more drivers who choose to avoid work zones, the safer workers will be. As a value add, fewer vehicles around work zones means less congestion and decreased environmental impact.
Information is crucial, dissemination is key, and time is working against us. In a frightening trend, 521 Americans died in work zone crashes in 2010. In 2019, that number increased to 762. That is 762 fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters who never made it home from work. Reversing that trend is the driving force behind WZDx.
WZDx is an initiative of the U.S. DOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). It aims to standardize work zone information into a single repository available to agencies, third parties including navigation apps like Google and Waze, as well as to connected and, ultimately, autonomous vehicles. Imagine a series of feeds all contributing to a sole source for quality and timely work zone information, wherever and whenever it is needed.
“The objective is to make travel on public roads safer and more efficient through ubiquitous access to data on work zone activity. Specifically, the project aims to get data on work zones into vehicles to help automated driving systems (ADS) and human drivers navigate more safely. A lack of common data standards and convening mechanisms makes it difficult and costly for third parties to access and use these data across various jurisdictions. The Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) specification enables infrastructure owners and operators (IOOs) to make harmonized work zone data available for third party use.”
– Neil Gaffney, FHWA Office of Public Affairs
The program is an example of how public and private sector organizations can collaborate effectively for the benefit of society.
“Cooperation between the public and private sector has been crucial to the success of WZDx. WZDx working groups are led by volunteer co-chairs who represent a variety of organizations with different backgrounds and focus areas. Their work and the dynamic dialogue between the stakeholders guide the development of the WZDx specification.”
– Neil Gaffney, FHWA Office of Public Affairs
The Work Zone Data Working Group is a multi discipline collaboration open to leaders and stakeholders from federal, state, local, tribal, academic, and private agencies, organizations, and institutions. Their mandate is to identify and promote best practices for creating, publishing, consuming, mapping, and analyzing work zone activity data. And even though WZDx is new, it is already evolving to accommodate the needs of the future.
In December 2021, the Work Zone Data Working Group published version 4.0 of the specification, which incorporated new ideas and advances. Among them is the establishment of two new types of feeds in addition to the existing streams for work zone and detour information. Those new feeds will accommodate smart work zone device data and non-work zone road restrictions. Crucially the group announced the creation of a new object to contain more information about the presence of workers in the work zone.
“Having more detailed information about worker presence, as well as improved real-time data from smart work zone devices, is expected to improve driver awareness and increase the safety for workers in work zones. Consequentially, reduction in work zone related crashes and injuries/fatalities would directly support the U.S. DOT’s Vision Zero goals.”
– Neil Gaffney, FHWA Office of Public Affairs
Toward nationwide implementation
In January 2021, the U.S. DOT awarded $2,372,254 in WZDx Demonstration Grants to fund 13 projects in 13 states. While not all grant winners have generated feeds so far, others that have include Iowa Department of Transportation, Maricopa County (Arizona) Department of Transportation, and Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Others who did not receive grants including the Texas Department of Transportation—and most recently, the North Carolina Department of Transportation—created their own WZDx data feeds and are now providing their data to the exchange. But not all feeds are equal. Some only cover small areas or a few work zones, while a few like North Carolina cover the entirety of the state.
While adoption and forward movement are wins, this should not be used to understate the barriers to the program’s eventual success. Developing a feed from scratch is costly and time consuming. In an era of scrutinized transportation budgets and competing priorities, WZDx is facing stiff competition. To counter that, one.network recently committed to developing an FHWA-approved WZDx feed for any agency that wants one, free of charge and with no commitment. With the company’s experience in Europe, one.network already owns a platform that will deliver work zone data in the WZDx protocol.
Last month, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) was the first to take one.network up on its offer, collaborating to develop the most comprehensive FHWA feed to date. NCDOT Traveler Information Engineer Kelly Wells, P.E., led the implementation for the state.
“This formalizes many things we have been doing. I’m in traffic operations. I saw the synergy between what was going on in this work zone / CAV effort and what I’m doing in traveler information. WZDx is the logical linking of these areas.”
– Kelly Wells, P.E., Traveler Information Engineer, NCDOT
Wells said the need for accurate and timely traffic data delivered to navigation apps was vividly demonstrated not in a work zone, but when Hurricane Matthew roared ashore in North Carolina in 2016.
“We had thousands of roads closed in eastern North Carolina and the troopers were coming to us saying, ‘You’ve got to help. I-95 is flooded and when we send people away, they come back an hour later saying, ‘this is where my GPS sent me.’’
– Kelly Wells, P.E., Traveler Information Engineer, NCDOT
By the time Hurricane Florence flooded the Carolinas two years later, Wells had developed manual work-arounds with the major satellite navigation companies to ensure their apps accurately reflected rapidly changing road closures and detours.
“When I learned about WZDx, and saw that this was the more efficient and automated way to do what we had been doing manually over the last few years, I was thrilled.”
– Kelly Wells, P.E., Traveler Information Engineer, NCDOT
NCDOT counts road obstructions including crashes, floods, and work zones as “incidents”—and there are a lot of them. Relative to its size, NCDOT maintains more road miles than any other state—80,000 miles in all. On a recent average day, the agency had 268 active incidents of which 250—or 93%—were work zones. For Wells, the math highlights the importance of WZDx.
“This is like what the MUTCD (the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which created standards and conformity among road signs) was to signing. This is the same for traveler information and CAV navigation. Creating standards we all can use … I think is huge.”
– Kelly Wells, P.E., Traveler Information Engineer, NCDOT
Taking action
Asked what agencies can do to advance WZDx, FHWA spokesperson Gaffney shared a range of actionable possibilities. Among his suggestions:
- Get involved. There is great work being done to advance work zone safety within the stakeholder community.
- Join the FHWA email list to receive monthly newsletters and invitations to Working Group meetings.
- Look for Notice of Funding Opportunities in order to apply for relevant demonstration and deployment grants.
- Share social media posts and graphics, fact sheets, postcards, and more from FHWA’s online communications toolkit.
- Help promote webinars and direct stakeholders to the WZDx website to learn more.
- Review Creating a_WZDx_Feed.md on GitHub, which contains information to assist in creating a WZDx data feed, such as the feed format, business rules, and validation tools.
- Make a new GitHub discussion if you need help implementing the WZDx specification or have questions.
As with every new transportation initiative, this industry tends toward risk aversion. Nobody wants to be first—everyone wants to be second. That is OK because FHWA and the WZDx Working Group have taken the risk out of this initiative. Combined with one.network’s promise to provide free feeds for any agency that asks, there is no reason this industry should not be able to standardize work zone data efficiently and quickly.
We cannot prevent every work zone fatal crash with WZDx, but if we can prevent one, or 10, or 50, those are one, or 10, or 50 people who will get to go to their kid’s baseball game, get to the barbecue dinner, or make it to work safely the next day.
The effort will be the largest and most comprehensive project of its kind, delivering statewide work zone data as part of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s new Work Zone Data Exchange Program.
one.network, a leading transportation technology provider of real-time work zone, road incident and event information data, announced a partnership agreement with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) today to launch the first statewide deployment of a Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) feed in the U.S. one.network will aggregate and deliver comprehensive work zone data, including lane closure and road disruption information, using the feed.
The program is the result of a new U.S. Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) national initiative to standardize and share work zone data with multiple groups. As an important safety initiative, the data will be available to navigation apps, connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), and any company or regional authority seeking to integrate or aggregate real-time transportation information.
This will be the largest third-party delivery of work zone data in the WZDx program’s history, a fact that Adam Graham, one.network’s Chief Product Officer, describes as a natural outgrowth of the company’s early commitment to the effort.
“We have been part of the conversation since the beginning, helping FHWA design the work zone data exchange. It’s still evolving and with our perspective, we can assure agencies that we’ll be able to integrate their data into the national exchange seamlessly and cost effectively as WZDx continues to grow.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
Graham believes North Carolina is the perfect venue for one.network’s technology because NCDOT operates an unusually high proportion of the state’s roads.
“We are thrilled to be working with such a collaborative, forward-thinking traffic management group. They are working hard for the residents of North Carolina, and through this project, their influence will extend well beyond state borders.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
Kelly Wells, NCDOT’s traveler information engineer oversees the department’s DriveNC.gov website.
“We are always looking for innovative ways we can improve how to communicate information to travelers. We appreciate the partnership we have with one.network to help us accomplish exactly that and become WZDx compliant without any cost to the taxpayer.”
– Kelly Wells, Traveler Information Engineer, NCDOT
one.network will deliver the data to North Carolina and its residents, through its comprehensive yet simple to operate platform.
To view the one.network real-time map, please visit https://one.network/us.
The company is ready to work with other agencies to deliver their data at no cost, a massive potenone.network partners with NCDOT for the first statewide WZDx feed deployment in the U.S., enhancing road safety and navigation.tial saving over agencies designing and operating their own WZDx compliant programs. Similarly, CAV companies can access this information immediately wherever the one.network platform is operational.
one.network’s primary software platform goes well beyond this WZDx initiative, contributing directly to the safety and efficiency of regional traffic operations. It can ingest and display virtually limitless traffic data from multiple sources including existing 511 systems, work zone crews, utility companies and any authority involved in managing the free flow of traffic. With a few keystrokes, agency operations staff, traffic managers or anyone they designate can manage lane closures, create detours, communicate lower speed limits, add or change work zone or utility crew incursions and use traffic data streams that routinely sit unused on agency servers. With a few additional strokes, traffic managers can access historical data to help them in their decision making.
In addition to its agency and public-facing displays, the one.network platform also feeds GPS providers including Google, Waze and TomTom, so agencies can be assured that crucial information will reach the public, even if drivers don’t use NCDOT’s DriveNC.gov website or follow the agency’s social media channels. one.network delivers the information in an intuitive, easy to manage dashboard that offers the clearest combined event, work zone and traffic flow data available today.
one.network is a newcomer to the U.S. market, building on its established and successful history in the United Kingdom, where its platform is utilized in more than 90% of the nation’s traffic management jurisdictions including London. In addition to the North Carolina agreement, the company has begun pilot programs in other U.S. states, aggregating data from 54 streams and 35 different agencies to date.
“While the political and functional traffic management environments are different in the U.S. and U.K. markets, the bottom line is the same. Moving people and goods efficiently and safely is a consistent theme. We are thrilled to be involved in that worthy cause on both sides of the Atlantic.”
– James Harris, CEO & Founder, one.network
For more information about one.network and its platform, please visit https://us.one.network/.
After extensive compliance testing one.network’s feed becomes the most comprehensive national solution to deliver work zone data to agencies, thirWZDx d parties, GPS navigational applications, and connected autonomous vehicles.
one.network, a leading software innovator delivering platform-based real-time traffic management and event information, announced today that the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has approved the company’s Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) feed for deployment by transportation agencies, and use by any stakeholder who needs accurate and timely work zone information.
Starting immediately, the company will create a WZDx feed for any American agency that asks free of charge.
The risk and commitment free initiative comes after one.network worked with FHWA’s WZDx team to ensure feeds will be compliant with program protocols. With its work zone data expertise, one.network is uniquely positioned to create FHWA WZDx compliant feeds at zero cost.
“We believe in work zone information standardization and efficiency and we’re putting our own equity behind it. We have the technology to build these feeds and set them up for an agency within days, saving agencies the cost and effort to create their own feeds from scratch.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
The one.network WZDx feed is designed to deliver as many data streams into a feed as an agency needs to accomplish the mission.
Each WZDx feed will include comprehensive data on planned work zone activity, allowing drivers to avoid hazards and agencies to contribute to a national repository of work zone information coordinated by FHWA. GPS navigation apps including Google, Waze and TomTom, connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) applications, organizations and regional authorities, will all have access to the feeds.
one.network’s commitment to provide free feeds is the first and only initiative of its kind since WZDx was a concept. Representatives from the company have contributed to the development of WZDx since its early days by serving on FHWA committees and participating in discussions, including one.network’s Chief Product Officer Adam Graham, who was recently elected to serve as the co-chair for both the WZDx Work Zone Data Working Group and the Specification Update Subgroup. The company plans to continue its leadership throughout the deployment to the entire U.S. network.
“This is a right side of history initiative. It’s crucial that we do everything we can to protect work zone crews and reduce the congestion that’s inherent, but often avoidable, around work zones. WZDx is a huge step forward and we’d like to congratulate FHWA for its leadership and vision.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
According to FHWA’s website, “the Work Zone Data Exchange (WZDx) Specification enables infrastructure owners and operators (IOOs) to make harmonized work zone data available for third party use. The intent is to make travel on public roads safer and more efficient through ubiquitous access to data on work zone activity. Specifically, the project aims to get data on work zones into vehicles to help automated driving systems (ADS) and human drivers navigate more safely.”
Graham says the program’s goals address a universal coordination issue.
“This is a really exciting initiative. Shining a spotlight on the data and making it readily available can unlock coordination between agencies and really drive benefits.”
– Adam Graham, CPO, one.network
For additional information or to request a completely free WZDx feed, please contact the one.network team.