The transportation sector is an integral part of the local, provincial and national economies. There are three important issues, including mobility, safety and economics, which must be considered when highway work zones are engineered. These competing issues are important to the key parties involved in highway construction, which include the owner, the transportation agency, hired contractor, consultants and the traveling public. To effectively assess these issues, this research is divided into four Modules. Module One focuses on developing work zone strategies appropriate for the construction being performed. Module Two investigates methods of improving safety within work zones. Module Three develops a prediction model for user delay cost while Module Four is a multi-variant decision model to assist transport agencies in incorporating an appropriate amount of user delay cost for a given facility type. This paper summarizes a recent research project undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario, the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo. The paper provides recommended practices and prediction models to improve mobility, safety and balance the economic impacts between key parties. Through interviews with contractors, it was revealed that they did not believe that there was any link between quality problems when specifications were met. Serious concerns were raised concerning productivity, safety and performance of the final product during night construction. It is also difficult to implement the work zone configuration solely designed by the consultants. To resolve these issues, it is recommended that a constructability analysis be carried out prior to construction. Safety within work zones is considered paramount. The causes of such involving motorists in work zones include unexpected congestion, duration of work zones, speed variation, work zone layout, highway configuration, driver distraction and night work. Each consists of a visibility, a physical limitation and a human factor issue. In terms of the construction worker, the risk is either internal or external to the work zone. Externally, heavy vehicles are the main source of fatalities to workers. Internally, the leading cause of death involves construction equipment and construction vehicles. Therefore, to mitigate the likelihood of incidents occurring, it is important to document the conditions of which it occurred. It would be desirable in police reports to include information and proximity of a work zone if applicable.