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The Importance of Speaking to Non-Construction Workers Before Creating a Traffic Management Plan

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Construction that impacts traffic needs to be planned carefully, and a traffic management plan is an essential part of the planning process. Your construction company could attempt to create a management plan itself, or it could hire a traffic control service. These services help with approvals and creating the plan that will allow your project to go forward without much impact on traffic. One task you and the traffic control service need to do is speak with businesses in the area about what traffic is like now.

You Don't Want to Aggravate Existing Traffic Problems

People who normally work in the area know which intersections and existing lane configurations seem to cause the most trouble with traffic. For example, poorly timed lights at two crossings plus heavy traffic at a couple of drive-through restaurants at noon could create traffic tie-ups. You do not want your construction to make these situations worse. Your traffic management plan should take these problems into account and try to at least work around them, if not actually improve them.

You Need to Know When the Heaviest Traffic Is

You also need to learn about existing traffic patterns, when rush hour usually takes place, and what the traffic in the area tends to be like. That helps traffic control services arrange detours and lowered speed limit zones so that they don't make rush hour into "going nowhere hour." No one wants their construction workers to suddenly face an onslaught of tired workers trying to get home without a good management plan in place. Workers in the area can help traffic control services pinpoint times of the day when traffic is at its heaviest and could be impacted the worst by construction.

You Don't Want to Cut off Traffic to Businesses

If the construction is around retail businesses and restaurants, any lane closures or pavement blockages could prevent customers from reaching the businesses. This could, obviously, adversely impact the businesses' financial situations, and considering what the pandemic has already done to a lot of places, you don't want to be responsible for making the businesses suffer even more. A traffic management plan and traffic control services allow you to proceed with construction while keeping routes open to businesses. If something absolutely requires closing off access, you can at least give the businesses plenty of notice and arrange the construction work so that the closures are as brief as possible.

You can begin speaking with some companies and let them know that the traffic control service might contact them as well. Think of the information you need and customise questions to the type of business you are speaking with.


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