ATSSA Signal Jan/Feb 2019

The Signal | Jan/Feb 2019 17 Product 101 Putting work zones on the map ATSSA member company product iCone provides real-time, accurate information of work zone locations to drivers ATSSA member companies advance roadway safety each day by developing and implementing practices, policies, and products. The association is introducing a series of articles in The Signal that highlights member company products and advancements being made on U.S. roadways. Future issues of The Signal will feature innovative products that are changing the way the industry is increasing safety and saving lives. If you have a product you would like to submit to the publication for consideration, email communications@atssa.com . For the past eight years, iCone has been revolutionizing the roadway safe- ty industry by simplifying and econo- mizing smart work zones with its name- sake product, the iCone. iCone offers connected arrow boards, connected trucks, connected flagging, and the iPin (a device that fits in the top of traffic cones) to connect your delineators. The company’s portable products allow for dynamic work zone planning by provid- ing real-time and accurate traffic con- ditions directly to motorists. iCone’s products detect flows and speeds of traffic as well as the location and sta- tus of key traffic control devices and submit that data to the company web- site as well as to iCone’s partners in big data that power the navigation of the cars approaching each job. These part- ners, like Waze, Google, HERE, and Pana- sonic, pass what iCone knows about each work zone to the apps that drivers use and this results in minimized traffic disruption and increased safety for road- way workers and users. “We’re shooting for a world where every flagger, every project is going to be au- tomatically fed into the data systems that drive automated vehicles. But even if we never get to automated cars, it’ll be in apps such as Waze, Google Maps, and everything in between,” iCone Man- aging Partner Ross Sheckler said. “We need it today, so we can anticipate road conditions, traffic, and work zones wher- ever we go.” “Departments of transportation need and want to knowwhere work zones are, and, of course, drivers do as well. The big data companies are the center of this data exchange and they want to see that our industry really means it, they want to know when we’re going to get 10,000 flaggers marked, and how many work zones are marked,” Sheckler said. According to Sheckler, more states and cities are utilizing tracking devices in their projects including Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado, Iowa, Tex- as, New Jersey, and New York. A roadway worker prepares to set up an iCone drum off of I35, which will track the site of the work zone and transmit that information to transportation departments and carriers of the Waze app. Photo courtesy of iCone