Road Zipper highlights role in work zone safety

First published in ITS World Congress Preview - October 10, 2019

Lindsay Transportation Systems will be at the ITS World Congress to highlight the success of its Road Zipper system in Asia.

In 2016, a tragic accident in a construction zone on the Joban Expressway running north from Tokyo, Japan, resulted in the death of a construction worker when a vehicle passed through the plastic delineation separating workers from vehicles. To complete the project and prevent additional fatalities or work zone encroachments, Nexco, the company responsible for all Japan’s tolled expressways, assessed the Road Zipper System. It quickly installed two kilometres of the moveable barrier throughout

the project. There were no further vehicle encroachments into the work zone during the project.

Since then Nexco, has continued to expand its use of the Road Zipper System within its Nexco-East and also Nexco-Central divisions.

Currently there are two leased construction Barrier Transfer Machines (BTM) in operation on a number of projects as well as two more BTMs which Nexco decided to purchase. These are all being used on a large bridge rehabilitation program that is currently being executed across the Nexco asset network nationwide to alter the lane configurations.

The system allows as much capacity to be used by the road-using public in the correct direction during peak travel times – and then expanding the work zone during off-peak times to allow more production construction methods leading to improved safety, reduced congestion, cost savings and faster construction programmes.

Booth 320