Optimized Design of Safety Facilities for Maintenance Sections of Eight-Lane Expressways

With the increasing service age of early expressways, routine maintenance and major repairs have become key priorities in current expressway operations. However, maintenance activities often occupy part of the road resources, leading to potential traffic congestion and safety risks. Existing safety facilities and signage for work zones have certain limitations, necessitating their optimization to improve work zone traffic safety. This study focuses primarily on younger drivers, who represent a rapidly growing portion of highway users and tend to exhibit more dynamic speed-selection behavior in complex road environments. Four new optimization schemes are proposed and compared with current standard practices. Detailed driver behavior metrics are collected through driving simulation experiments to analyze the impact of optimized safety facilities on driving behavior in work zones. The non-integer rank-based rank sum ratio method is employed to evaluate the optimization schemes. Results indicate that, compared with the original scheme, the optimized schemes significantly enhance driving safety in work zones. Among these, the addition of voice navigation achieved the highest optimization effect, followed by the implementation of variable message signs. Future efforts could focus on combining voice navigation with other measures to better guide drivers. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for the design and layout of work zone safety facilities, offering practical support for improving traffic safety in expressway work zones.