The project provided preliminary guidelines to aid in selecting a suitable illumination system for nighttime construction and maintenance activities.

An increased amount of nighttime highway work is being performed on both divided and undivided highways in urban and rural settings to minimize the congestion effects of daytime reductions in capacity and/or to accelerate the work. This often necessitates the use of illumination to facilitate work while maintaining a safe work area for the travelling public and the workers. As nighttime work continues to increase in frequency, guidelines for illumination systems need to be developed and made available to public agencies and contractors. Without such guidelines, illumination will continue to be provided on a trial and error basis, which can be costly in both time and safety.

Research included a review of current practices for nighttime highway work and illumination and preparation of preliminary guidelines that address visibility requirements, lighting equipment, lighting configuration and arrangement, lighting system design, system operation and maintenance, and economic considerations. NCHRP Research Results Digest 216 provides a summary of the work performed under this project.

To assess the suitability of these preliminary guidelines based on evaluations of a variety of nighttime highway work projects, to recommend design requirements for temporary roadway lighting in work zones, and to prepare illumination guidelines that can be considered for adoption by AASHTO, a second phase of research is being performed under NCHRP Project 5-13(2).

NCHRP Report 498