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Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations

 
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Publication Number:  FHWA-HRT-12-054    Date:  December 2012
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-12-054
Date: December 2012

 

Methodologies to Measure and Quantify Transportation Management Center Benefits: Final Synthesis Report

Appendix A. Example of Progression to Performance Measures

The following appendix illustrates the process used by the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG).(57) The process starts with the development of goals (see table 32 ) and progresses to the development of initiatives to achieve these goals and the functions required (see table 33 ). Figure 70 shows the measures used to evaluate the goals.

Table 32. Development of goals.

Operational Categories 3-Year Goal 5-Year Goal
Freeway mobility Limit the percent increase in average travel time to less than the percent increase in traffic volume. Same as 3-year goal
Arterial mobility
  • Limit the percent increase in average arterial travel time to less than the percent increase in traffic volume.
  • Optimize traffic signal coordination within and between cities on major arterials or where appropriate.
  • Continue to limit the percent increase in average arterial travel time to less than the percent increase in traffic volume.
  • Update the traffic signal coordination within cities and between cities every 2 years or when traffic volumes through the interchange change by more than 5 percent.
Freeway incident management Reduce incident duration by
10 percent.
Reduce incident duration by
20 percent.
Freeway arterial interface Establish integrated freeway-arterial corridor operations on one corridor. Establish integrated freeway-arterial corridor operations on
three corridors.
Arterial incident management Conduct a feasibility and planning study for a multi-jurisdictional arterial incident management program. Implement a multi-jurisdictional arterial incident management program (based on outcomes of feasibility study).
Arterial operations Establish a regional standard for implementation of emergency vehicle signal preemption (EVSP). Ensure adoption of the EVSP standard by each of the MAG member agencies and implement the standard on 100 percent of the traffic signals with EVSP.
Transit mobility Deploy a transit signal priority pilot project. Deploy transit signal priority to bus rapid transit routes where beneficial.
Computer system reliability
  • Operate the system with up time of 95 percent-no more than 450 h down time per year. Allows for approximately 8 h of system maintenance per week. Maintenance is preferably conducted in off-peak periods.
  • Minimize system down time to an average of 1 h per system failure.
No goal.
Multi-agency coordination
  • Establish center-to-center communications between 15 agencies in the region. These agencies should include traffic and transportation, enforcement, emergency management, and transit.
  • Facilitate incident and emergency response and travel information sharing between 15 agencies.
  • Establish center-to-center communications between 20 agencies in the region. These agencies should include traffic and transportation, emergency services, and transit.
  • Facilitate incident and emergency response and travel information sharing between
    20 agencies.
Travel information provision
  • Increase travel information usage (Web, 511, television, radio, etc.) by 100 percent and achieve a 75 percent customer satisfaction rating. On a scale of 1 to 10, a score of 7 or higher is desired.
  • Expand phase 1 of the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT)/Maricopa County Department of Transportation/
    City of Scottsdale Web-based Highway Condition and Reporting System (HCRS) pilot project for local closure and restriction information to include five additional MAG member agencies (phase 2).
  • Incorporate transit status information from automatic vehicle locator (AVL) data from buses into travel information services.
  • Develop Web-based arterial maps for 100 percent of instrumented smart corridors.
  • Increase travel information usage (Web, 511, television, radio, etc.) by 200 percent and achieve a 75 percent customer satisfaction rating. On a scale of 1 to 10, a score of 7 or higher is desired.
  • Evaluate performance capabilities of phase 2 Web-based HCRS pilot project for local closure and restriction information and expand to include additional MAG member agencies.
  • Obtain travel time information on 50 percent of instrumental arterial roadways and post this information to the Web, 511, and variable message signs.

Table 33. Development of initiatives.

Operational Categories Initiatives Functions
Regional Traffic Signal Optimization Program Improved traffic signal timing within cities and across jurisdiction boundaries will result from better regional traffic engineering collaboration.
  • Optimize agency traffic signal system operations.
  • Optimize traffic signal operations of cross-border traffic signals and regional arterials.
  • Develop regional preset traffic signal timing structure and criteria for traffic signal timing plan changes during incidents.
Arterial and freeway incident Improved incident management can be achieved with better collaboration of the fire and public safety personnel with the transportation departments. Freeways:
  • Improve agency-specific incident management practices and guidelines to reduce incident clearance times.
  • Schedule incident debriefing sessions after large incidents with representatives of public safety, fire departments, and applicable local transportation agencies.
  • Improve the prequalified list of towing and recovery vehicles.
  • Facilitate agreements between agencies to extract computer-aided dispatch (CAD) information for travel information services and ADOT Traffic Operations Center.
  • Facilitate improvement of practices for on-scene coordination and communication.
  • Facilitate improvement of practices for placement of emergency vehicles at incident scenes.
Arterials:
  • Implement and maintain a multi-jurisdictional Arterial Incident Management Program based on results of feasibility study and pilot project.
  • Facilitate agreements between agencies to extract CAD information for local traffic management centers.
Shared maintenance resources Improved system performance and significant cost savings to the region will result from sharing resources (staff and equipment).
  • Improve preventative maintenance and prompt repair of locally owned ITS field devices and central systems.
  • Improve preventative maintenance and prompt repair of regionally significant ITS field devices and central systems.
  • Maintain regional communications infrastructure.
  • Develop cost-sharing agreements between agencies.
Freeway-arterial operations An emphasis and focus on improving the operations of the arterials and freeways at traffic interchanges can be beneficial in optimizing the operation of the freeways and arterials. Plan, deploy, operate, and maintain a freeway-arterial corridor operations pilot project.
Emergency vehicle signal preemption Preemption on a regional basis will be more effective and safer with a common set of standards for its implementation. Develop regionally accepted standard for emergency vehicle signal preemption.
Transit signal priority The implementation of transit signal priority on a corridor will demonstrate the effectiveness of this concept for regional transit mobility. Plan, deploy, operate, maintain, and evaluate a transit signal priority pilot project.
Center-to-center communications Better communications between agencies. Establish center-to-center communications between agencies.
Archived data Collecting and storing data from implemented transportation systems will be an excellent resource for the region in planning operational enhancements. Develop and implement a regional data archiving system.
Local TMC and ADOT TMC operators The effectiveness of TMC operators will be improved with better coordination and communication between themselves.
  • Develop and maintain a comprehensive personnel and logistics resource list.
  • Develop practices for after-hours monitoring of local TMC systems and devices.
  • Improve interagency communication between TMCs during incidents.
Travel information Improved travel information in the MAG region will benefit the regional mobility.
  • Make available work zone and incident information to HCRS and/or 511.
  • Integrate transit information with travel information services
    (e.g., provide AVL data to 511).
  • Develop practices for collecting information from arterial detectors.
  • Post travel information/messages on freeway and arterial variable message sign.
  • Market travel information services.
Performance Measurement The effectiveness of all the initiatives can be measured through a performance measurement program. Develop performance measurement program.

Click for the description.

Figure 70. Illustration. Performance measures.

 

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