The objective of this challenge is to identify the work zones in North Carolina for the years 2022-2023 with the highest crash occurrence per Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT), especially crashes involving a fatality. Participants will be asked to consider additional factors such as weather conditions, speed differentials approaching the zones, severity of speeding, and different work zone management strategies (e.g., full crossover, single lane closure, daytime or nighttime work) to develop a comprehensive understanding of what contributes to the occurrence of serious crashes in these zones. For the results, they should submit their findings, supported by statistical comparisons and visualizations. Use of machine learning algorithms is encouraged.

To conduct this analysis, participants will need to utilize multiple data sets. They will be given temporary access to TIMS, as an External User role, which will allow searching and downloading traffic incident data including road work and crashes.

1. Crash Data: Download traffic-impacting Vehicle Crash incident data from TIMS. Data in TIMS has fields for Fatality and Work Zone Involved, and shows the location as lat/long and Mile Marker. Another possible source for crash data is the Crash Data and Maps section of the Connect NCDOT website.

2. Probe Speed Data: This includes average speeds and distributions. Participants may request access to Iteris ClearGuide (https://nc.iteris-clearguide.com ) and will be able to download INRIX data for the desired locations.

3. Work Zone Data: Dates and locations of work zones can be obtained from TIMS data using Incident Type = Construction or other road work incident types.

4. Traffic Volume Data: This can be obtained from the MS/2 portal, which is publicly available.

5. Weather Data: This can be obtained from the National Weather Service. We will ask Masoud to provide appropriate links for the data.