The Transportation Research Board (TRB) will host a webinar discussing the findings of National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 672: Roundabouts: An Informational Guide – Second Edition. The report is an update from the original roundabout informational guide released in 2000 by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. The report assists transportation professionals in explaining trade-offs associated with roundabouts and reviews the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of roundabouts.
 

The webinar will take place on March 9, 2011, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. CST. Participants must register 24 hours prior to the start of the webinar and there is a fee for non-TRB Sponsor employees.

The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) will host a web briefing, “Advanced Access Management for the Transportation Planner.” This webinar will cover the principles that define the practice of access management, typical public concerns and how to convey the benefits of access management to the public, the relationship of access management to sustainability, and how to develop an access management plan or program. The role the state DOT, MPO, and local government have in access management will also be discussed.

There is a $50.00 fee per website to participate in the web briefing, which will be held on Thursday, February 24, 2011, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. CST.

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) will sponsor a free webinar titled Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS) State of the Practice Assessments. The webinar will summarize identified applications that have demonstrated environmental benefits through the use of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies. The webinar will also review strategies that could be used to assess the environmental impacts of ITS projects.

The free webinar will take place Wednesday, February 9, 2011, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CST.

Xin Tian, PhD, with Regina Webster & Associates, Inc. will present about Divergent Diamond Interchanges (DDI) at the upcoming Chicago Area Transportation Modeling User Group (CATMUG). The presentation will provide an overview of the DDI concept, pros and cons, and how the interchange works. VISSIM models of DDI’s will also be presented to visually show how the DDI operates. DDI is being considered for the I-88/Route 59 interchange as part of the Illinois Route 59 Expansion project previously featured in the blog.

Please contact Matt Stratton  if you are interested in attending this presentation.

Note: The presentation was postponed due to the weather.  A new date and time will be posted when available.

An upcoming Envista webinar, “The City of Baltimore – A Case Study Highlighting Traffic Management in an Incident Command System,” will feature Pat Nowlan of the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. He will discuss how Baltimore deployed a web-based, map-driven, real-time Incident Command System. Challenges, solutions, and lessons learned throughout the project development process will be reviewed. Mr. Nowlan will also share information on how to apply for a Federal Emergency Preparedness Grant.

This free webinar will take place on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. CST.

Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2008. "The Netherlands: A Broader Horizon".

To follow up on a previous blog post, “Seattle-area Drivers Experience Smarter Highways,” Seattle-area drivers along the I-5 corridor are experiencing active traffic management (ATM) through high-tech gantries that display real-time traffic information such as speed limits that adjust to roadway conditions and lane status alerts. This article and video by govtech.com provides an excellent overview of the ATM project on Interstate 5 in Washington.

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) recently released a pilot of its train tracking system in early January, which provides arrival times for all trains system wide on the website. The estimated arrival times are generated through a combination of scheduling information and data collected through CTA’s QuicTrak program, which indicates when portions of tracks are occupied by trains. Electronic signs at 10 CTA stations also inform riders of arrival times.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently released the report Efficient Use of Highway Capacity Summary, which summarizes the implementation of safety shoulders as travel lanes as a method to increase highway capacity. The report provides an overview of efforts to use left or right shoulder lanes as temporary or interim travel lanes and reviews the safety and operational impacts of shoulder lanes.

McHenry County Division of Transportation Maintenance Superintendent Mark DeVries was recognized as one of the top public works officials in the U.S. and is on the cutting edge and internationally known for ice and snow removal from roads. He is best known locally as pioneering an anti-icing solution made up of salt water, organic material, and calcium chloride. Under his expertise, McHenry County was one of the first counties to blend the anti-icing solution on-site. DeVries provides advice to other municipalities in the Chicagoland region and is also the chairman for the American Public Works Association’s winter maintenance subcommittee.

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) will sponsor a free webinar series later this month titled “The Emergence of Open Electronic Payment Systems in Public Transit.” This three-part webinar series will discuss the trend of transit agencies moving to an open payment solution. The series will provide background information on traditional closed fare payment solutions and emerging open payment solutions, and it will also discuss the communication standards for open payment solutions and if the two technologies can coexist. The first webinar in the series, “Introduction to Closed Payment Systems and Open Payment Systems in Public Transit,” will provide a high-level introduction into closed fare payment systems and open payment systems in transit.

The free webinar will take place on Tuesday, January 18, 2011, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CST. The schedule for the following two webinars in the series will be released during the webinar on the 18th.

CMAP believes an open electronic payment system in public transit would be beneficial for the region. Open electronic payment systems would allow for transit users to transfer seamlessly between transit providers and would improve the operational efficiency of the transit system. CMAP supports seamless coordination between modes in the Increase Commitment to Public Transit chapter of GO TO 2040.

The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 672: Roundabouts: An Informational Guide – Second Edition is an update from the original roundabout informational guide released in 2000 by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. The report assists transportation professionals in explaining trade-offs associated with roundabouts and reviews the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and operation of roundabouts.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) unveiled the new Every Day Counts (EDC) website. The EDC initiative’s objectives are to employ demonstrated innovative technologies to expedite project delivery, make the roadways safer, and protect the environment. The EDC website currently has tools available to assist highway agencies and contractors to shorten project delivery time. A flyer describing EDC is also available.

This webcast hosted by Travel Information Services Program Track (TISPTC), part of the I-95 Corridor Coalition, will explore the way outsourced archived probe data is currently being used for performance measurement and planning by transportation professionals at all levels – national, regional, and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Shawn Turner with the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) will discuss lessons learned from the use of private sector speed data for historical performance monitoring. Michael Pack with the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory (CATT LAB) will present information regarding a tool developed using data from the I-95 Corridor Coalition Vehicle Probe Project (VPP). Andrew Meese with the Metropolitan Council of Governments will discuss how data from the VPP was used by his agency.
 

To participate in this free webcast, please RSVP to nhrebien@kmjinc.com (or Natalia Hrebien at 610-228-0207) by Monday, November 29, 2010. If you have any questions please contact Bill Stoeckert at 774-207-0367. The webcast will be held on Thursday, December 2, 2010 from noon to 1:30 p.m. CST.

The City of Aurora has deployed a state-of-the-art traffic control system which allows operators to monitor congestion at 23 intersections. Operators can watch digital versions of cars stopping at signals and adjust traffic signals to help ease congestion. The system also allows for signal priority for emergency vehicles and preset traffic signals for special events. The signal improvement project was funded through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program in 2005, 2006, and 2007. The city plans to have traffic signals at 115 intersections connected to the system.

The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) will sponsor a free webinar titled IntelliDrive Applications for the Environment: Real-Time Information Synthesis (AERIS). The webinar will discuss the AERIS program, which is an application that uses real-time transportation system information to enable system users and operators to promote more environmentally friendly travel choices and is based on the IntelliDrive(SM) initiative. This webinar will provide an overview of AERIS, discuss the policy context of AERIS, and strategies for the implementation of AERIS applications involving cars, trucks, and public transit.

The free webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 8, 2010, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CST.

This white paper by Transportation for America, the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, the Association for Commuter Transportation, and the University of Michigan SMART Initiative provides examples of current and emerging ITS technologies that have the capability to increase capacity, inform commuters, and expand and improve transportation options. The main goal of this report is to help demonstrate to the U.S. Congress, in light of the new transportation reauthorization bill, the money saving and job creation benefits associated with investments in ITS technologies that improve the existing transportation system.

The Advancing Metropolitan Planning for Operations: The Building Blocks of a Model Transportation Plan Incorporating Operations – A Desk Reference is a guide to assist transportation professionals to incorporate operations related objectives, performance measures, and strategies into a regional transportation plan. This reference provides an overview of planning for operations, examples of how to develop operations objectives, numerous samples of operations objectives with associated performance measures, and model transportation plans that have incorporated operations related elements into the plan. Transportation operating agencies should also be consulted, in conjunction with this guide, when developing a metropolitan transportation plan.

This talking freight webinar, hosted by the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Office of Freight Management and Operations and the Office of Planning will discuss the results of the Cross-Town Improvement Project (C-TIP), a collaborative project involving the government and private industry in Kansas City, MO. The main goal of C-TIP was to move freight more efficiently over the transportation network through better information sharing capabilities between government and private entities.

The webinar will take place on November 17, 2010, from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. CST.

The New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway will soon have high-tech traffic forecasts, which will alert both operators and drivers of potential bottlenecks before they happen. The traffic forecasting technology has been able to predict traffic flows with up to 90 percent accuracy using complex computer models. The traffic forecasts will be displayed on existing highway message signs and drivers will have the option of receiving email or text message alerts. The same traffic forecasting technology is currently in use in Singapore and Stockholm.

Source: Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2008. "The Netherlands: A Broader Horizon".

This synthesis explores Active Traffic Management (ATM) technologies and techniques in use in the U.S. and Europe, but primarily focuses on the more mature ATM technologies in Europe. The synthesis provides the European perspective of the lessons learned, experiences, operations results, and benefits associated with ATM techniques such as variable speed management, shoulder or line management, junction control, and directional routing. The synthesis concludes with potential benefits and challenges of deploying system-wide ATM applications in the U.S.