As part of the CMAP Congestion Management Process, staff has created new 2011 congestion scans for expressway segments in northeastern Illinois. Congestion scans show average speed by milepost by time of day for the freeway segment. The congestion scan is a visual display of when and where, on average, a driver will experience lower speeds along a freeway segment.

On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Office of Operations will host a webinar launching the Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Public Outreach Toolkit from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. The public outreach toolkit focuses on two laws, “Move It” (625 ILCS 5/11-402) and “Slow Down/Move Over” (Scott’s Law, 625 ILCS 5/11-907 (c)), enacted by Illinois and many other states to manage and clear traffic incidents quickly and safely. The “Move it” law requires motorists who are involved in a traffic incident to move their vehicles out of the lanes of traffic if they are able and it is safe to do so. The “Slow Down/Move Over” laws require motorists to reduce speed and move over when they see the flashing lights of emergency response vehicles. The toolkit will provide agencies with free customizable outreach tools to educate the traveling public on these two laws.

Also, immediately following the webinar until 2:00 p.m. CT, an optional “Media 101” training will be held to provide tips for partnering with the media in local public awareness campaigns.
 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program will host a “Talking Technology and Transportation (T3)” webinar on Thursday, June 7, 2012 from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. This webinar will be an interactive conversation on why transportation agencies adopt ITS programs and will provide real examples of adopting and deploying ITS technologies. The conversation will assist in the development of ITS policies and activities at the federal and state levels.

On Thursday, May 31, 2012, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) will host a “Talking Operations” webinar on weather-responsive traffic signal management from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. This webinar will provide details on the technical and institutional issues that affect traffic signal management during adverse weather events. It will also provide examples of concepts of operations and successful deployments of systems that manage traffic signal timing and coordination during weather events.

As part of CMAP’s Congestion Management Process, staff has compiled performance measures for the regional freeways from 2011. The performance measures include a travel time index, a planning time index, and congested hours.

The travel time index is a measure of average congestion and indicates the average extra travel time required during peak period congestion. Travel time index is a ratio of the average peak-period travel time compared to the free-flow travel time. For example, a value of 1.20 means that average peak travel times are 20 percent longer than free-flow travel times.

The planning time index is a measure of reliability and is defined as the ratio of the total time needed to ensure a 95 percent on-time arrival to the free-flow travel time. For example, a value of 1.4 means that, to arrive on-time 95 percent of the time, a traveler should budget an additional eight minutes for a trip that takes 20 minutes during off-peak, free-flow conditions.

Congested hours are an indication of how many hours per day a facility is congested. Technically, "congested hours" are defined as the average number of hours in which at least 20 percent of the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on the instrumented segment is congested. For this measure, congestion is defined to occur when link speeds are less than 50 mph.
 

The National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) has released its 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card. The traffic signal report card is the result of a traffic signal self-assessment survey completed by 241 local and state agencies that account for 39 percent of all traffic signals in the U.S. The report card focuses on management, signal operations, signal timing, traffic monitoring and data collection, and maintenance. The 2012 national score of 69, equivalent to a D+ letter grade, is a slight improvement over the 2007 result of 65, equivalent to D letter grade. Improving traffic signals is a cost-effective way to ease congestion on a majority of the roads in cities across the U.S.

On Wednesday, May 16, 2012, the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Freight Management and Operations will host a “Talking Freight” webinar on the impacts of heavy or oversize truck shipments on the U.S. highway network from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. The increased demand for heavy load trucks, which haul oversized or overweight loads and require special permits, have created significant impacts on the roads and communities they operate in. The webinar will provide examples of how states and communities are mitigating or have dealt with the increasing heavy truck volumes on the transportation system.

 The Federal Highway Administration recently released a primer on ways to integrate operations into a regional intelligent transportation system (ITS) architecture. The primer will provide transportation planners and operations staff effective strategies to apply planning for operations through the regional ITS architecture. Many transportation management and operations strategies have an ITS component that lends itself to being a part of a regional ITS architecture. The regional ITS architecture should be updated and/or created in a coordinated effort between transportation planners and operations managers to make sure it is relevant and easy-to-use in planning for operations.

On Thursday, April 19, 2012, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) will host a “Talking Operations” webinar on the role of social media in communicating with travelers during weather events. New social media technologies are rapidly becoming available that allow transportation system operators and travelers to communicate weather and other traffic-related information. The webinar will focus on the latest social media technologies and identify different implementation approaches.

Pace, the suburban transit provider in the Chicago region, is expanding service on its I-55 express bus routes. The I-55 express bus routes operate on sections of the shoulder of Stevenson Expressway when the facility is congested. The routes have experienced both increased ridership and improved on-time performance. The express service is part of the Bus on Shoulders pilot project which is a cooperative effort of Pace, Illinois Department of Transportation, and the Illinois State Police. The project received funding for signage from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement program and CMAP posted a short video on the program launch. The success of this project to date indicates that such services merit further study and possible additional deployments, contingent on safety and operational success.

The next Operations Academy Senior Management Program will take place October 9 to 19, 2012, in Linthicum Heights, Maryland. With the increasing need to operate and manage transportation systems more effectively, the Operations Academy trains mid- to high-level managers whose current or future responsibilities will focus on transportation management and operations. The Federal Highway Administration Office of Operations has 20 full scholarships available to state and local transportation agencies.

On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) will host a “Planning for Operations” webinar on benefit-cost analysis for operations from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. Given the need to justify the use of taxpayer money to finance transportation improvements, many system operators are asked why proposed operations-oriented projects warrant funding. This webinar will provide system operators with useful examples of benefit-cost analysis from real-world transportation operations projects and provide a summary of the methods and tools developed for the report “Benefit/Cost Analysis for Operations Desk Reference.”

On Tuesday, March 20, 2012, the National Highway Institute will host a “Talking Operations” webinar on active traffic management and weather from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. CST. Active Traffic Management (ATM) technologies are deployed to manage recurring and non-recurring traffic demand, but the application of ATM technologies during weather events is limited. The webinar will provide a summary of the report “Concept of Operations for ATM and Weather,” as well as examples of the successful use of ATM technologies during weather events.

As part of CMAP’s Congestion Management Process, staff have compiled performance measures for the regional freeways from 2010. The performance measures include a travel time index, a planning time index, and congested hours.

The travel time index is a measure of average congestion and indicates the average extra travel time required during peak period congestion. Travel time index is a ratio of the average peak-period travel time compared to the free-flow travel time. For example, a value of 1.20 means that average peak travel times are 20 percent longer than free-flow travel times.

The planning time index is a measure of reliability and is defined as the ratio of the total time needed to ensure a 95 percent on-time arrival to the free-flow travel time. For example, a value of 1.4 means that, to arrive on-time 95 percent of the time, a traveler should budget an additional 8 minutes for a trip that takes 20 minutes during off-peak, free-flow conditions.

Congested hours are an indication of how many hours per day a facility is congested. Technically, "congested hours" are defined as the average number of hours in which at least 20 percent of the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on the instrumented segment is congested. For this measure, congestion is defined to occur when link speeds are less than 50 mph.
 

CMAP has recently calculated the transit passenger miles traveled per vehicle revenue hour by agency for the Chicago region in 2010. It is one of CMAP’s annually-tracked regional transportation indicators.  The data used to calculate this measure is from the National Transit Database, which is created annually by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) from data provided by transit agencies across the country. This performance measure is tracked because it is sensitive to both operational efficiency and passenger travel.

A free, 18-module Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) training course is now available online through the ITS Professional Capacity Building Program (PCB). The training course is designed for all levels of transportation professionals involved in ITS projects. The training modules cover how to evaluate, procure, and implement standards-based ITS devices and systems.

CMAP recently compiled a regional summary of intermodal lift freight data provided by railroads for calendar year 2010. A lift is the act of moving a container or trailer on or off a train. In 2010, the summary shows that the greater Chicago region (including Rochelle) handled about 6,730,000 lifts, up from about 6,145,000 in 2009. These intermodal containers and trailers are handled by the region’s 20 separate intermodal terminals for seven railroads.

CMAP also prepared a summary number to enable a comparison between Chicago and container ports around the world. Global port activity is measured by twenty-foot equivalent unit, or TEUs. CMAP estimated that the greater Chicago region handled 12.876 million TEUs in 2010. Comparing this number to information compiled by the Port of Rotterdam, this level of intermodal activity would rank Chicago as the world’s eighth busiest container port (after combining Los Angeles and Long Beach) if Chicago were a seaport.

Why is this important? While Chicago doesn’t handle the container volume of Shanghai, Singapore, or Hong Kong, the global TEU comparison numbers show that the Chicago region’s unparalleled national rail access facilitates a level of trade and commerce comparable to or greater than most other global cities. The rail access gives Chicago businesses good shipping opportunities across North America to ports on both coasts, thence to sea lanes serving the globe.

Source: CMAP photo
 

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) will host a “Planning for Operations” webinar on the role of monitoring and evaluating progress toward operations objectives from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. The webinar will focus on the key role of monitoring and evaluating managment and operations (M & O) strategies in metropolitan areas to help inform future decision-making and provide examples of how to evaluate operation strategies.

A new report by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides assistance to transportation professionals on how to successfully implement localized congestion relief projects in different environments. It was released as part of FHWA’s Localized Bottleneck Reduction Program (LBR) program, which focuses on operational improvements to mitigate recurring local congestion. The guide provides effective solutions to localized congestion relief when agencies are faced with institutional, design, funding, or safety issues.

On Tuesday, December 2011, the National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) will host the first in a two-part “Planning for Operations” webinar series on organizational management for signal systems from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CT. The webinar will assist organizations that operate traffic signals in assessing if they are structured to efficiently meet defined goals and objectives of its stakeholders, as well as help with creating a flexible system that will continuously update and improve the performance of a traffic signal system.