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Dallas-Area Initiatives

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With growing populations and limited resources, our state's urban areas face unprecedented transportation challenges. In Dallas, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is helping meet those challenges through technology transfer and the implementation of practical, problem-solving research. TTI's efforts, led by its 28 Dallas-area employees, are focused on helping improve the safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the area's transportation system.

Serving the Dallas Area for 40 Years

Today, TTI is working to make transportation safer and more efficient in Dallas, and the Institute's contributions date back to the 1960s. In those earlier years, TTI provided expertise that helped:

  • deploy the first freeway traffic management center in the state on North Central Expressway;
  • facilitate the innovative design of North Central Expressway;
  • connect DART light rail into the North Central Expressway right-of-way; and
  • justify, plan and evaluate HOV facilities.

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

TTI has developed prototype software to manage Dallas-area freeways. Researchers have also evaluated a variety of freeway management hardware options for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), including video detection, and are developing software to track locations of courtesy patrols through their cell phones. These technologies have delivered an estimated 17-to-1 benefit-to-cost ratio.

Traveler Information Website

screenshot from Traveler Information website

TTI assisted in the redesign of the Dallas-Fort Worth traffic website to provide travelers with real-time information on area freeways. Motorists can easily obtain information on incidents, lane closures, travel speeds, roadside camera images and messages posted on electronic signs. The website — www.daltrans.org — averages more than 300,000 page views per day.

HOV and Managed Lanes

TTI is assisting TxDOT, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) and the North Central Texas Council of Governments in the planning, development and evaluation of an integrated system of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) and managed lanes in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The 100-mile Dallas HOV lane network has experienced the nation's largest growth in carpooling. The network has offered motorists an average time savings of one minute per mile, saved DART more than $6 million in bus operating costs, and significantly improved regional air quality.

Incident Management

incident management discussion

TTI has developed a freeway incident management program to support an area-wide freeway management system. Incident management strategies will combine with ITS applications to enable local agencies to operate the transportation network at its highest levels of efficiency. These strategies offer a benefit-to-cost ratio of 36-to-1 and have reduced average incident clearance times to less than 20 minutes.

Construction Project Community Liaison

TTI served as a point of coordination during the construction of the Dallas High Five Interchange, the largest construction project ever undertaken in North Texas. By operating as a liaison between TxDOT, contractors, property owners and citizen groups, TTI helped facilitate prompt and effective communication, contributing to the project's completion a year ahead of schedule, which saved about $115 million in potential time lost due to traffic congestion.

Ramp Reversal Research

TTI recently completed research for TxDOT showing the operational, safety and basic economic benefits of reversing the typical layout of freeway access ramps. Successful efforts in the Dallas area included portions of IH-30 in downtown Dallas, IH-35E in Denton and Lewisville, and US-67 in Cedar Hill. The US-67 improvement helped spur development of Pleasant Run Towne Crossing, a shopping center that created more than 500 jobs and now generates some $70 million in annual sales and $1.6 million in tax revenue.

Freeway Bottleneck Evaluation and Removal

freeway bottleneck

TTI assists with implementation and evaluation of low-cost improvements to mitigate freeway bottleneck locations. Typical low-cost solutions include restriping, converting shoulders to travel lanes and adding auxiliary lanes between ramps. Benefit-tocost ratios range from 9-to-1 to 400-to-1 for these improvements, which also have reduced crash rates by an average of 35 percent.

Work Zone Merge Control Research

TTI is currently performing research on the use of innovative strategies and advanced technologies to make roadway work zones safer and more efficient for the traveling public. Techniques such as the late merge, which encourages motorists to take turns merging at the lane closure, have been successfully used on projects on SH-66 in Rowlett and IH-45 in Corsicana. These techniques have increased freeway capacity by 15 percent and reduced queue lengths by as much as 50 percent.

Cable Median Barrier Research

a cable barrier in use along a roadway

TTI is currently conducting research for TxDOT on the effectiveness of cable median barriers in preventing often serious cross-median crashes on state highways. The Dallas District has been a leader in the implementation of cable and wire rope median barriers, with more than 100 miles in place on roadways such as IH-20, IH-30, IH-35W, IH-45, IH-635, US-67, US-80, US-175 and SH-114. This application of median barriers has effectively ended a problem that has killed an average of 18 people annually in recent years.

School Traffic Safety and Operations

TTI research supported the development of guidelines to help traffic professionals, school district staff, school architects and other stakeholders plan, design and operate safely around K-12 school campuses.

Improving Safety for Teen Drivers

TDS members attending a press conference

More than 500 Texas teens lose their lives in fatal vehicle crashes every year. TTI's innovative Teens in the Driver Seat® peer-to-peer safety outreach program is organized to empower teens to educate their classmates about driving risks. To date, more than 40 high schools in the Dallas area are implementing the program. Participant surveys in the 150-plus Texas schools where the program is operating indicate a 30 percent decrease in teen cell phone usage and text messaging while driving and an 11 percent increase in teen seat belt usage.

Economic Impacts of Major Transportation Projects

aerial view of a toll facility

TTI is assessing the economic impacts of major transportation projects in Dallas through collection and analysis of business performance data along major toll and non-toll corridors.

TTI's Mission

To solve transportation problems through research, to transfer technology and to develop diverse human resources to meet the transportation challenges of tomorrow.

Contact

Christopher Poe, PhD., P.E.
Assistant Agency Director
Texas Transportation Institute
The Texas A&M University System
9441 LBJ Freeway, Suite 103
Dallas, TX 75243
ph. (972) 994-0433
cpoe@tamu.edu

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