The Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2) has released a capacity project brief on improving highway capacity through operations. Part of SHRP 2 Capacity project C05: Understanding the Contribution of Operations, Technology, and Design to Meeting Highway Capacity Needs, the brief summarizes methodologies developed to estimate the impacts of operational improvements relative to constructing additional capacity. It also provided two real-world examples where the new methodologies were tested using a dynamic traffic assignment model. A full report will be available later this year.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building program will host a “Talking Technology and Transportation” webinar on December 20, 2012, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. The webinar will explain and provide real world applications of the Model Systems Engineering Documents for Adaptive Signal Control Technology Systems report. This webinar is geared towards agencies and professionals involved in the management and operation of traffic signal systems.

The National Transportation Operations Coalition (NTOC) has launched the Traffic Signal Library and Forum Groupsite. This site provides a centralized location for all traffic signal-related information. It will also provide transportation professionals and the public a place to research and learn about traffic signal management and operations, safety, and maintenance.

On January 11, 2013, the Federal Highway Administration released a request for comments on splitting the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) into two smaller documents. One document would have the federal requirements and the second document would include the recommended practices, which are not federal requirements.  Currently, the MUTCD is a single document that contains guidance and regulations on design and installation standards for traffic devices.  The proposed changes are meant to make the MUTCD more user-friendly and will not change or create any federal regulations.  The comment period ends March 12, 2013. 

CMAP will hold its annual operations and construction coordination meeting on Wednesday, February 6, 2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at its offices (233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago).  The meeting allows participating agencies to share information regarding planned 2013 construction with other transportation agencies in the region.  The Great Lakes Regional Transportation Operations Coalition will also discuss projects around the Great Lakes, focusing on the I-94 corridor. 

To RSVP or request additional information, please contact Claire Bozic (cbozic@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8744). If unable to attend in person, register for the webinar.
 

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) created a traffic analysis tools website on developing and deploying useful traffic analysis tools.  The traffic analysis tools program is divided into two sections for deployment and development.  The deployment track assists transportation professionals in facilitating the deployment and use of existing traffic operations analysis tools.  The development track focuses on the effort to develop new and improved tools to support traffic operations analysis.   

CMAP and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will present a two-day “Integrated Corridor Management with Analysis, Modeling and Simulation” Knowledge and Technology Transfer (KTT) Workshop on January 9-10, 2012.

The event will take place at CMAP’s offices (233 South Wacker Drive, Suite 800, Chicago, IL). While the workshop will focus on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway corridor, agencies outside of the corridor are invited and will benefit from the workshop information. This workshop is intended to motivate and equip participants to take advantage of specialized analytical tools to assess or refine Integrated Corridor Management concepts, designs, and plans.

To RSVP or to request additional information, please contact Claire Bozic (cbozic@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8744).
 

On December 13, 2012, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m. CT., the Federal Highway Administration Office of Transportation Performance Measurement will host a webinar on the process and practice of transportation performance management as it relates to Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), the two-year transportation reauthorization bill. The webinar will cover the development and timeline associated with planning and implementing performance management and the performance measure rulemaking process. The webinar will also describe collaborative efforts between the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and its metropolitan planning organizations for transportation performance management.

The Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) Office of Operations will be hosting a workshop on the Localized Bottleneck Reduction (LBR) Program at the FHWA Chicago offices (200 W. Adams, Suite 330) on November 27, 2012. The LBR Program supports outreach to transportation professionals on how to find and implement quick, inexpensive solutions to localized constriction of traffic flow. The workshop will provide an overview of the LBR program, successful sample projects from other states, and discuss where the region is today and where it may go in the future.

The workshop is geared towards transportation professionals who have the ability to champion or execute a program to address low cost, quick-turnaround, spot congestion relief projects.

Please RSVP with Chris DiPalma by November 15, 2012.
 

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building program will host a “Talking Technology and Transportation” webinar on Tuesday, September 18, 2012, from noon to 1:30 p.m. CT. The webinar will discuss a generic validation process, which allows the implementing agency to determine if the signal system deployed meets predetermined goals and objectives. The webinar will also provide examples of tools that will evaluate the effectiveness of the adaptive traffic signal technology installed. Adaptive Signal Control Technology (ASCT), part of Federal Highway Administration’s Every Day Counts initiative, adjusts the traffic signal timing to accommodate changing traffic patterns and ease traffic congestion. The Chicago Department of Transportation and Lake County Department of Transportation were both awarded Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement program funds to implement ASCT in four select corridors.

The West Central Municipal Conference and the DuPage County Mayors and Managers sponsored Phase I of the Cook-DuPage Smart Corridors Plan and Design. Cambridge Systematics was the consultant awarded to complete the project. Agencies including the Illinois Department of Transportation, Regional Transit Authority, Chicago Transit Authority, Pace, Metra, and CMAP participated in the Cook-DuPage Corridor Planning Group. The purpose of the project is to improve travel for all modes through low cost operations/Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) solutions with a goal of selecting four corridors for implementation and pilot projects.

Implementing a smart corridor will include ITS and operational improvements in the following areas: traffic management, improved traveler information, incident management, and transit management. The project was divided into four steps to determine which four corridors would be selected as smart corridor candidates. The steps included identifying corridor limits, prioritizing corridors, corridor characteristic diagrams, and selection of corridors. The study area for the project was bound by IL 50 to the east, the Metra Milwaukee District West line to the north, the Metra Burlington Northern Santa Fe line to the south, and roughly IL 59 to the west. The corridors were ranked through a set of evaluation criteria such as traffic volume, congestion, population and employment density, safety, and others. Decision support materials and corridor characteristic diagrams helped rank the candidate corridors.

The four initial corridors for advancement to the design phase of the project include: Cermak/22nd/Butterfield, Harlem Avenue, North Avenue, and Roosevelt Road. Phase II, the conceptual design of the smart corridors, is currently on hold. This phase will assess the existing conditions and design a concept of operations and functional requirements for each corridor. It will also conduct a technology scan, create concept design plan documents, and develop a maintenance/operational plan for the corridor. Cambridge Systematics has partnered with Jacobs engineering for phase II of the project.
 

Source: Travelmidwest.com

One of the most widespread and invisible pieces of intelligent transportation system (ITS) equipment is the vehicle detector, which is used to collect information about road traffic conditions. According to the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) 2010 ITS Deployment Survey, there are approximately 3,500 loop, video, and radar traffic detectors installed on arterials in northeastern Illinois. There are an additional 1,300 loop, radar and toll tag detector stations on the region’s expressways and tollways. This critical component of the region’s ITS system is easily overlooked, but the system operators have invested millions of dollars to deploy them on our expressways, tollways, ramps, and arterials. Detectors improve traffic signal operations and our ability to monitor and manage the system. Eight-four percent of our region’s freeway miles and 46 percent of the region’s signalized intersections are currently covered by electronic surveillance.

Vehicle detectors collect information about the presence or number of vehicles as well as vehicle speeds, multiple times per minute around the clock. However, vehicle detectors are only useful when they communicate the information they collect to places where it can be put to use, such as to traffic signal controller boxes to trigger green signals, to agencies where they can monitor traffic conditions and detect incidents, and to the public where information about traffic conditions can be used to make informed travel decisions. Accordingly, the thousands of vehicle detectors are accompanied by a vast communications infrastructure made up of copper wires, fiber optic cables, and wireless communications. As the region’s transportation network communication infrastructure is expanded, and backroom computer technology for interpreting the information evolves, we will improve our ability to manage the system in real time and even predict traffic congestion before it happens. In addition, in-vehicle data is now being collected for some cars and trucks; this data is providing an increasingly valuable data source for system traffic managers and will be the subject of a future post.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is undertaking projects and programs to improve its detector system. First, I-55 and I-80 detection is now being expanded to include most of those expressways within our region. Second, over the next several years, expressway system surveillance will be expanded to include the entire Chicago metropolitan region. Third, IDOT regularly checks arterial and expressway detectors and repairs them as necessary and as traffic conditions allow.

As a resident of northeastern Illinois, vehicle detection impacts your daily travel if you plan your trip using Travelmidwest.com or Lake County Passage, which receive vehicle detector information in real time; at a traffic signal, where a detector informs the signal that you are waiting to proceed; when you read message signs providing travel time information; when you enter the expressway at one of the 113 metered ramps; if you wonder about the schedule for the Kennedy reversible lanes; when you drive through an open road toll location; or when you see a sign warning of a traffic backup ahead.
 

The Federal Highway Administration recently released a brochure on the foundation for performance-based management of transportation operations programs. The brochure provides a quick overview of why measuring operations performance matters and how operations-related transportation projects are a very cost-effective solution to congestion. It also provides examples of successful effective operations performance measures already implemented in different regions of the US. The brochure outlines the process on how to start such a program.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) recently released a primer on contemporary approaches to parking pricing in the U.S. Parking pricing has become one of many travel demand management tools that local governments can use to help alleviate congestion and encourage people to use alternative modes of transportation. The primer covers modern parking pricing applications, current technologies, and model user accommodations currently being practiced in cities around the U.S. The primer also provides innovative parking policies and methods for gaining public support for parking policy changes. CMAP also issued a report, "Parking Strategies to Support Livable Communities," earlier this year.

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.

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.