Illumination Guidelines For Nighttime Highway Work

This guide replaces the 1984 publication entitled An Informational Guide for Roadway Lighting. It has been revised and brought up to date to reflect current practices in roadway lighting. The guide provides a general overview of lighting systems from the point of view of the transportation departments and recommends minimum levels of quality. The guide incorporates the illuminance and luminance design methods, but does not include the small target visibility (STV) method.

"TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 726: A Guidebook for Nighttime Construction: Impacts on Safety, Quality, and Productivity provides suggested guidance on the conduct of nighttime highway construction and maintenance operations. These guidelines are based on best practices and strategies for nighttime operations that relate to the personnel and traveling public safety and the quality of the as-built facility. The guide also addresses work-zone risk analysis planning and implementation, construction nuisances to both neighbors and workers, and work-zone illumination methods."--Publisher's description.

This synthesis report describes current practice in mitigating nighttime construction nuisances such as noise, vibration, light, and dust. Roadway construction work is increasingly done at night to mediate traffic congestion; however, this trend also increases the potential for disturbing adjacent property owners. This report will be of interest to department of transportation (DOT) construction, design, and project engineers, and to those responsible for community relations. This report of the Transportation Research Board stresses the importance of informing project neighbors and establishing cooperative relations with the community as a first measure of successful mitigation. Examples show how project design can address construction nuisances by locating and sequencing construction operations to minimize their impact. Current practices used in source control, path control, and receptor control are described and documented in examples from the Boston Central Artery/Tunnel project and projects in Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah. Appended materials provide sample specifications for mitigation of noise and dust control.