Personal Mobility

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (Tri-Met) has entered into an agreement with the City of Portland, Oregon to enable its transit buses to use the low Transit Priority request of the signals within the City’s jurisdiction. The three primary goals for the use of transit priority are: 1) to increase throughput within specified traffic corridors; 2) to reduce transit running times; and 3) to improve transit schedule reliability. This paper will focus on methods Tri-Met will employ to evaluate the effectiveness of its transit signal priority effort on transit operations, and to determine if its goals have been met. The project was scheduled to commence in February 2001, and preliminary evaluation results are expected by June 2001.

Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (Tri-Met)

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

Traditional driver performance data collection methods have ordinarily relied on experimenters riding with drivers to collect data. Such methods are limited because drivers may exhibit performance that differs from that while driving alone. Alternatively, naturalistic observation methods can be employed by the use of vehicle instrumentation to collect data in an unobtrusive manner.

This paper outlines the data types, data collection, data analysis, expected results provided by these data, and how these data can be used by designers in the development of safe, naturalistic Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) of the future. Additionally, this paper includes an overview of a lane change and passing study that is currently taking place. The study involves 16 commuters who drove to and from work for 20 business days, for a minimum of 50 miles round trip each day. Starting in September 2000, ordinary drivers drove instrumented vehicles instead of their normal vehicles during their commute to and from work. Data collection was fully automated and equipment was unobtrusive. Both a sedan and an SUV were used in this study.

Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

The Nevada Department of Transportation (NDOT) and its Las Vegas area partners have identified a need for a freeway management system (FMS) to help manage traffic during fluctuating periods of vehicle demand on freeways and arterials, as well as provide enhanced incident response capabilities. The Freeway and Arterial System of Transportation (FAST) will combine the existing LVACTS (Las Vegas Area Computer Traffic System) with the new Freeway Management System (FMS, currently being designed) into one integrated system, maximizing mobility.

This paper describes the purpose of dynamic trailblazer signs and the types of signs that were considered. It then discusses the communication media that were considered for the signs, and reasons for selecting an existing 800-MHz voice and data radio system for use with the signs. A program to test prospective sign vendors’ compatibility with the radio system is described. Both an analog and digital means of communication were tested. Our experience with each sign vendor is discussed, and our team’s lessons learned are presented. To date, six vendors have tested their equipment with the NDOT radio system, and four are prequalified.

Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

Presentation

Project Goals

• Reduce Ingress/Egress Congestion
• Demonstrate Benefits of ITS
  • To Agency Staff, Media + Public
• Provide Training of ITS Strategies, Tools + Techniques to Operations Staff
• Develop ITS Template for Future Events

Hudson Valley TMC

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 29 –May 2, 2002 Long Beach, California

Developed as part of the Phoenix AZTechTM national ITS Model Deployment Initiatives (MDI), twenty-three traveler information kiosks have been operational for more than three years. These kiosks were built as part the regional Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) to provide public with useful traveler information, including real-time traffic condition. Recently, an effort was initiated by the Maricopa County Department of Transportation, the lead agency of the AZTechTM program, to examine and assess the traveler information kiosk program in the Phoenix area. This paper summarizes the major findings of the study, including reviews of the procurement and implementation history, basic configuration, operational features, information contents, and usage assessment. Despite the sound design, the average level of usage of the kiosks was found to be less than satisfactory. In addition to the discussions of possible rooms for improvement, a viable alternative to the information kiosks for traveler information dissemination in public locations was also discussed.

Battelle Memorial Institute

Maricopa County Department of Transportation

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 29 –May 2, 2002 Long Beach, California