November/December 2002
ALONG THE ROAD
Along
the Road is the place to look for information about current and upcoming
activities, developments, trends, and items of general interest to
the highway community. This information comes from U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT) sources unless otherwise indicated. Your suggestions
and input are welcome. Let's meet along the road.
Policy and Legislation
Americans Invited to Comment on Future Transportation Programs
In July 2002, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta announced
that individuals and groups across the country can take advantage
of a new online service to express their opinions and offer ideas
as the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) prepares its proposal
to Congress on reauthorizing the Nation's surface transportation programs.
For the first time ever, USDOT is providing an Internet-based forum
for individuals and groups to submit comments, ideas, and analyses
regarding reauthorization. The Department also invites comments via
postal mail. The goal is to gain valuable insight from State and local
partners and the private sector to shape Federal programs.
For more information about the reauthorization of surface transportation
programs or to submit comments, visit www.fhwa.dot.gov/reauthorization.
Send written comments to the Docket Clerk, USDOT, Room PL-401, Docket
Number OST-2002-12170, 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, DC 20590.
To order a copy of the brochure, America's Surface Transportation
Programs: Meeting the New Challenges, write to: Public Affairs, Room
10416, USDOT, 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, DC 20590.
Management and Administration
"Infostructure" to Improve Safety of U.S. Transportation System
Transportation officials from across the United States gathered in
Irvine, CA, in August 2002 to discuss how digital maps, wireless communications,
and devices to track the movement of vehicles could improve the safety
of the U.S. transportation system. The Roadway Infostructure Workshop
grew out of a USDOT initiative known as "infostructure," which aims
to increase surveillance of the Nation's transportation system, especially
in metropolitan areas, and lay the foundation for better management
of surface transportation resources.
Infostructure's two primary functions are to develop security elements
that will assist in protecting critical infrastructure such as bridges,
tunnels, ports, and airports and to increase the safety of the traveling
public across all modes of transportation. The infostructure concept
also is the foundation for a broader integrated network of transportation
information referenced in ITS America's National Intelligent Transportation
Systems Program Plan: A Ten-Year Vision.
Cosponsored by the Transportation Research Board's ITS Committee,
ITS America, and the California Department of Transportation, the
workshop focused on improving transportation security, mitigating
congestion on U.S. highways, providing surface transportation weather
information, and providing more information to travelers. Workshop
attendees discussed the value of infostructure and considered how
to educate the public about the concept in order to minimize fears
associated with increased surveillance. Participants agreed that collaboration
between the public and private sectors is essential to making infostructure
a reality.
For more information, visit www.itsa.org.
ITS America
USDOT Funds University-Based Center for Transportation Excellence
USDOT's Research and Special Programs Administration granted $1.7
million to George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, to operate a university-based
excellence in transportation center on its campus. The center's objective
is to promote the deployment of intelligent transportation systems
(ITS), particularly in Virginia, but also around the Nation and even
globally.
George Mason University's ITS Center is one of 33 University Transportation
Centers (UTCs) funded by USDOT to conduct combined programs of research,
education, and technology transfer. More than 80 schools throughout
the United States participate in UTCs. Since the program's inception
in 1998, UTCs have involved more than 3,500 university students and
faculty members in the study of transportation, and produced more
than 1,200 research reports. Recipients of UTC grants are required
to provide matching funds.
Information on the UTC program is available on the Web at http://utc.dot.gov.
Making Work Zones Work Better
Making work zones more enforcement friendly and using innovative
traffic control devices to improve safety in rural work zones were
among the issues discussed at a pilot workshop on work zone mobility
and safety in Raleigh, NC, in June 2002. The workshop, Making Work
Zones Work Better, was cosponsored by FHWA and the North Carolina
Department of Transportation. The event served as the pilot for a
series of work zone-related workshops that will be held around the
country over the next year.
More than 115 participants heard presentations on topics such as
worker safety, work zone strategies, traffic management, contracting,
and travel information. In one presentation, attendees learned about
the new dynamic late-merge concept, which integrates conventional
lane closure merge control with the late-merge approach to encourage
drivers to remain in their lanes until the merge point at the lane
closure taper.
Attendees also heard a case study about the $26 million rehabilitation
of the McClugage Bridge in Illinois. The rehabilitation relied on
a combination of moveable barrier and interactive traffic management
systems to reduce traffic delays. Other presentations explained outcome-based
contracting techniques and assessed new technologies including an
intrusion device that alert workers when a vehicle has penetrated
the work zone.
The workshop series is part of FHWA's nationwide effort to promote
new technologies, practices, and products that will enhance mobility
and safety in highway work zones. In addition to providing lectures
by experts in the field, the workshop series features open forums
and other activities in which State highway officials can share best
practices. State police representatives also are encouraged to participate,
as law enforcement is key to making work zones operate effectively.
FHWA Loan Launches Central Texas Turnpike Project
In a continued effort to employ innovative financing techniques
to help surface transportation projects move forward, FHWA closed
on a $916.76 million loan to the Texas Transportation Commission.
The loan will help fund the $3.6 billion first phase of the Central
Texas Turnpike Project, a toll highway facility through central Texas.
The turnpike project spans a travel area that is vital to the safety
and mobility of drivers in central Texas and is composed of three
distinct elements. The 5.6-kilometer (3.5-mile) Loop 1 will serve
as a major north-south route in the Austin vicinity. A 21.2-kilometer
(13.2-mile) stretch of State Highway (SH) 45 North will serve as a
connector between the cities of Austin, Round Rock, and Pflugerville.
The final element is the northern segment of SH-130, a 78.9-kilometer
(49-mile) stretch of roadway that will provide an eastern bypass for
Austin, TX, and is parallel to and east of I-35, one of the more congested
urban parts of the interstate.
Gabby Garcia, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT), says that this is "one of the largest and most anticipated
construction projects going on across the State, and things are moving
quickly. We're planning to break ground in early 2003."
The Turnpike Authority Division of TxDOT is managing the project.
TxDOT retained a general consultant engineer and two engineering firms
to assist with managing the construction project. Loop 1 and SH-45
will be constructed using the traditional design-bid-build process,
and SH-130 is under an exclusive development agreement with Lone Star
Infrastructure, a consortium of engineering and construction firms.
The turnpike will open in segments, with the completed project opening
to traffic in December 2007.
Memo on Changeable Message Signs
After California and neighboring State authorities used changeable
messages signs (CMS) to rescue a 10-year-old girl abducted from Riverside,
CA, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a memorandum
recognizing the value of the America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency
Response (AMBER) program. AMBER is a voluntary program through which
State and local departments of transportation can issue emergency
alerts—using CMSs, radio, and other means—to notify the
public about child abductions.
The FHWA memo dated August 16, 2002, supports State and local governments'
choice to implement the AMBER program and explains the Agency's policy
to ensure that the program is implemented appropriately on U.S. roadways.
So that messages are not overused and provide clear caution to drivers,
FHWA limits the use of real-time displays to managing travel, controlling
and diverting traffic, identifying current and anticipated roadway
conditions, or regulating access to lanes. Displaying AMBER alerts
or child abduction messages on a CMS is acceptable only when part
of a well-established local AMBER program and when the public agency
authorizing the display has developed a formal policy to govern the
operation and messages. CMS messages should be kept current and short
in duration, and they should relate to a specific safety campaign.
|
Under the AMBER program, State and local governments may
use changeable message signs like this one on Interstate 25
in Denver, CO to notify the public about child abductions.
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FHWA's memorandum explaining the AMBER policy is available online
at www.fhwa.dot.gov/legsregs/directives/policy/ambermemo.htm.
Technical News
New Software to Help States Evaluate Highway Performance
At a conference in North Carolina in September 2002, representatives
from 17 States got a first look at a new software program that uses
engineering principles to simulate future highway conditions and performance
levels, while identifying deficiencies.
FHWA's Highway Economic Requirements System-State Version (HERS-ST)
software evaluates the relationship between highway investment and
system condition, performance, and user cost levels. Using State-supplied
data, HERS-ST employs economic criteria to simulate the selection
of improvements for implementation. State highway agencies can use
HERS-ST for planning and scheduling highway work, as well as determining
future transportation system needs.
The HERS-ST national conference provided a forum for participating
States to review the software's applicability in a State setting and
to recommend enhancements. The State input helps ensure a tool that
will satisfy
the requirements of most State departments of transportation.
For additional information on the conference or HERS-ST, contact
David R. Winter at FHWA by phone at 202-366-4631 or e-mail david.winter@fhwa.dot.gov.
Information also is available on the HERS-ST Web site at www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/hersindex.cfm.
Public Information and Information Exchange
TRB to Release Access Management Manual
In late 2002, the Transportation Research Board (TRB) will release
the Access Management Manual—the definitive source on
developing and implementing an access management program.
Traffic managers define access management as the systematic control
of the location, spacing, design, and operation of driveways, median
openings, interchanges, and street connections to a roadway. Putting
effective access management programs in place is important to State
transportation agencies, local governments, metropolitan planning
organizations, developers, and others involved in transportation planning
because it can reduce crashes, increase roadway capacity, and reduce
travel time and delay. The manual is the culmination of extensive
research on best practices throughout the United States.
Guidelines and information in areas such as program development,
implementation, and access design are presented in 12 chapters that
integrate planning, engineering, transportation, and land use considerations.
To reserve a copy of the Access Management Manual, send your name
and mailing address via e-mail to Kim Fisher at kfisher@nas.edu.
Transportation Research Board
Personnel
Mineta Names Capka to Serve as FHWA Deputy
On August 5, 2002, U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta
appointed J. Richard Capka to serve as FHWA's deputy administrator.
As deputy administrator, Capka will help prepare the Bush administration's
transportation reauthorization proposal, shape the management of highway
mega-projects across the country, and develop other programs and initiatives
for FHWA. Before assuming this FHWA post, Capka served as executive
director and chief executive officer for the Massachusetts Turnpike
Authority, where he directed oversight of the $14.5 billion Central
Artery/Tunnel project in Boston—the largest and most complex
infrastructure project in the United States.
Other
Articles in this issue:
The Scan of the Wild
Filling the Pipeline
TELUS
Measuring the Road to Improvement
Students Grab the Gold Ring
Digging into LTPP Pavement Data
Making It Happen the Fast Way
"Back to Basics" Saves Lives
A Decade of Achievement
Does Your Interchange Design Have You Going Around in Circles?
From Small Beginnings Come Great Things