Texas A&M Transportation Institute» Volume 47, Number 1

It’s hard to tighten your belt when you run out of holes in the leather. But when you can’t afford a new belt, you just have to work with what you’ve got.

In a nutshell, that’s what the Texas Legislature is facing in the current budget cycle. According to some estimates, Texas faces a budget shortfall in the neighborhood of $20 billion. Legislators will have to make some tough decisions as a result.

In this environment, the benefits derived from effective, implementable research can be considerable. Through research, the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) seeks “a better way.” I’ve said that before in this column, but it’s worth repeating in these days of stretching state dollars to meet public needs. Better is defined to mean a smarter, safer and more efficient transportation system. In legislative terms, improved traffic safety means lives saved, less injuries and an overall reduced impact from crashes on our health care system. Businesses and commuters alike see benefits from a smarter transportation system through reduced fuel consumption and air pollution and cheaper goods that reach store shelves more efficiently. All of that equates to reduced overall costs and a higher quality of life for Texans.

Beyond the benefits realized from investing in quality research, in recent years the Texas Legislature has relied on TTI more directly via testimony about the state of our transportation system and its needs. From our work with the 2030 Committee, which provides data about the transportation challenges faced by Texas in the next two decades, and studying funding alternatives, such as vehicle mileage fees, the Institute’s expertise is giving legislators the background they need to craft good policy for the citizens of Texas.

With its summary of recent TTI testimony before the Texas Legislature, the center spread of this issue of Researcher paints a broader portrait of how much legislators rely on what we know about transportation at TTI. And beyond the borders of Texas, we’re helping sponsors, from Washington State to Florida, find that better way. TTI‘s 2010 Urban Mobility Report — currently the nation’s standard for understanding the impact of congestion on bottom lines around the country — was released this quarter. The coming year will see a new national standard for sign retroreflectivity, and the nation’s roads will be a little bit safer thanks to work by TTI staff.

Our problems might seem local, but we see it on the news every day — the nation is tightening its collective belt. And Texas, while better off than some states, is no different. TTI research positively impacts our state’s economic competitiveness and our citizens’ quality of life.

We’re honored that the Texas Legislature places so much faith in what we do. Making good policy, building better roadways, streamlining systems without sacrificing safety — that’s the better way that makes TTI research necessary, especially when times are toughest.

Workshops Bring Local, State Planners Together

Jared — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:10:13 +0000

TTI Research Scientist Ed Hard conducts a workshop promoting improved coordination of corridor management and preservation activities between TxDOT and local agencies.

Every one of us likes to drive safely and without undue delays. To keep our roads safe and efficient, operators must effectively manage the existing system while simultaneously planning for evolving transportation and land development needs.

Corridor management (CM) involves land development, roadway design, access control and traffic operations along existing transportation corridors. In short, it’s to keep roads operating safely and efficiently. Corridor preservation (CP) addresses the preservation and protection of right-of-way, as well as acquisition of right-of-way for future corridors. Coordination at the local level via metropolitan planning organizations is vital to seamlessly meshing these two initiatives.

To promote better communication across agency lines, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), with sponsorship by the Federal Highway Administration, conducted workshops on corridor management and preservation at 23 TxDOT districts. These workshops resulted from a three-year TxDOT project completed by TTI in 2007.

“The workshops were successful in showing participants how to coordinate transportation and land development planning and decision making, and encouraging TxDOT and local officials to work together,” says Ed Hard, TTI research scientist and project supervisor. Held between 2008 and 2010, the workshops provided training, promoted TxDOT local partnerships, and presented guidelines on developing and adopting CM/CP plans.

Bob Appleton, director of planning and development for the TxDOT Bryan District, agrees: “These workshops build relationships among government entities by encouraging cooperation and facilitating operational efficiencies across agency lines. That’s sure to improve the project development process, and everyone who uses our transportation system will benefit.”

Considering the current national economic situation, this coordination is crucial because “we can no longer afford not to get things done right the first time, only to have to go back and correct it in five to ten years,” Hard explains. Appleton adds that state and local officials work with TTI to merge cutting-edge research and best practices into a product that TxDOT can implement around the state.

“The most important public benefit from this project is that better coordination across agencies improves the overall quality of the transportation system, which means a safer experience for all users,” says Appleton. “Beyond that, improved efficiencies are passed on to the taxpayer through lower project development costs and longer-lasting facilities.”

“One of the purposes of the workshops was to demonstrate specific benefits of corridor management and preservation,” says TTI Senior Research Engineer Brian Bochner, one of the workshop instructors. “The participants were able to see how CM and CP could be effective in maintaining operational efficiency and facilitating future improvements.”

Funding Tomorrow’s Transportation in Texas: Not a Question of If…a Question of How

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:11:14 +0000

The current fuel-tax system essentially subsidizes travel by highly fuel-efficient vehicles and electric vehicles, because they pay less in fuel taxes or none at all.

We often take our transportation system for granted. Then something happens — an ice storm, for example — to remind us just how much we depend on that system. Without it, our mobility, our economy, our very lives can become paralyzed.

Keeping existing system infrastructure operational and effectively planning future roadways are vital to meeting our transportation needs. And someone has to pay for it.

Therein lies the problem. Rising fuel prices and increasingly fuel-efficient and alternative-fuel vehicles will likely decrease revenues generated by federal and state fuel taxes. (These taxes are the primary funding mechanism for the maintenance and expansion of Texas’ roadways.)

“The fuel tax is a kind of ‘user fee’ levied on how much fuel you purchase at the pump,” explains Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin. “As people buy less gas, less revenue is generated. Meanwhile, the demands on our transportation system are only growing.”

Goodin and her research team recently explored one funding alternative to the fuel tax, the mileage fee. In this system, a fee is assessed on every mile driven by a vehicle, rather than on every gallon of fuel purchased. In addition to studying existing mileage-fee implementation projects around the nation, researchers solicited input from 13 transportation stakeholder groups, a nationwide panel of technical experts, and five focus groups conducted in Texas communities of varying size and geography.

“Essentially we were evaluating whether or not Texas — as a state and as a community of people — is ready for mileage fees,” says TTI Associate Transportation Researcher Trey Baker, a principal member of the research team. “And the answer from the study is — not right now.”

Characteristically, Texans are pragmatic about mileage fees. While the opinions obtained in the study indicate people think mileage fees are a good idea in principle, they were more interested in fixing the current fuel-tax-based system before implementing another funding mechanism. Other concerns voiced by participants include the need to better understand the impact of electric vehicles on fuel-tax revenues and potentially revising how fuel taxes are currently apportioned (e.g., some fuel-tax revenues go toward education rather than highway maintenance).

One option for collecting information used in assessing a mileage fee would involve gathering detailed time and travel location data to ensure that only miles traveled in Texas would be assessed. While more accurate than an odometer-based alternative, this option piqued participant concerns about privacy. While the units wouldn’t actually “track movements,” they would collect data used to quantify travel.

“Right now there are numerous public acceptance barriers that make mileage fees non-viable for Texas,” says Goodin. “But we’re doing more research in the state and around the country to better understand these issues and how to implement this system if and when Texas is ready.”

Mary Meyland, director of strategic policy and performance management at the Texas Department of Transportation, acknowledges that the issue is complex. “TTI‘s expertise has been vital in helping us identify the issues surrounding implementing mileage fees in Texas. Having Ginger and her team help us further evaluate this idea bodes well for our making the best decisions for Texans.”

Rural Transportation Planning: It’s Not Just for Urban Areas Anymore

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 20:17:10 +0000

It’s an unfortunate cliché these days: economic times are difficult. Federal, state and local budgets are shrinking. As communities look for ways to get more bang for their transportation buck, leveraging strengths across agencies becomes ever more important.

Metropolitan planning organizations have coordinated local urban planning efforts with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) for decades. But historically, rural areas haven’t had transportation planning organizations to synchronize efforts across agencies. Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Associate Research Scientist John Overman says that’s changing.

“Rural planning organizations [RPOs] are emerging as an effective way to coordinate transportation planning in Texas,” says Overman. “A research project conducted for TxDOT created a guide to help RPOs define their role in the planning process and how they can best coordinate agency efforts.”

The planning and implementation process for transportation projects in Texas.

Partners in rural planning include TxDOT, RPOs, councils of government (COGs), public transportation providers, regional mobility authorities, coordinated public transit–human services planning agencies, cities and counties, and other stakeholders such as freight operators and economic development agencies. The study recommended that these partners work together to identify regional needs and coordinate various transportation projects.

The guidebook is aimed at all groups with an interest in rural transportation. That includes TxDOT district planners and engineers, COG planners, rural county judges, city and county staff, and policy makers. The guide includes an overview of the transportation planning process and requirements, and outlines how RPOs fit into the overall transportation planning process.

“Navigating the transportation planning and programming process is complicated due to the various rules, requirements, responsibilities and products involved. Rural stakeholders new to the process need assistance in navigating the requirements,” Overman explains. “The complexity of these relationships itself points up the need for the guidebook.”

Overman and his team looked at RPOs across the nation to glean best practices and captured how those organizations work with their respective state’s department of transportation. Researchers also spoke with various stakeholders and compared the role of RPOs with similar transportation planning efforts elsewhere.

Finally, they reviewed bylaws from existing Texas RPOs and reconciled how those should work within the framework of TxDOT‘s proposed transportation planning rules. Title 43, Texas Administrative Code Part 1, Chapter 16, was adopted Aug. 26, 2010, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2011. The guidebook includes the requirements and processes presented in these rules.

Through the end of this summer, TTI will conduct 10 workshops for COGs and districts around the state. The workshops will provide rural planners and stakeholders with a better understanding of their role in the planning process and raise awareness of available resources.

“Planning is really communicating — communicating a need and then solutions to meet the need,” explains Bob Appleton, TxDOT director of transportation planning and development for the Bryan District. Appleton served as director on the project that developed the guide. “Through these workshops, we’re training new regional planning organizations to appreciate and apply that rule of thumb.”

Enlightening Sign Time: TTI Helps Spread the Word about New National Retroreflectivity Standards

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:23:39 +0000

The guide has become very popular through LTAP, with some 60,000 copies currently in print.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) publishes the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) establishing national standards for all traffic signs. All agencies that maintain public roadways use the MUTCD to ensure signs and markings are uniform in their design and placement.

Until recently, the MUTCD did not address when a traffic sign should be replaced based on how well it reflects light, also known as its retroreflectivity. Traffic signs use small glass beads or prismatic reflectors to reflect a sign’s information back to the driver’s eyes.

“The retroreflectivity of a sign degrades over time due to natural — and occasionally criminal — causes,” says Paul Carlson, head of Texas Transportation Institute’s Operations and Design Division. “Nighttime fatal crashes occur about three times as often as daytime fatal crashes, so maintaining traffic sign retroreflectivity can be essential to safety.”

The new minimum retroreflectivity requirements in the MUTCD go into effect soon. This change affects thousands of agencies and millions of signs. FHWA has extended compliance dates to ease the transition.

By January 2012, agencies responsible for traffic signs must have a sign maintenance program designed to maintain traffic sign retroreflectivity at or above specific levels. By 2015, agencies must comply with the new requirements for most of their traffic signs, including regulatory, warning and guide signs. By 2018, agencies must comply with the new requirements for overhead guide signs and all street name signs.

Sign maintenance usually occurs at the local level, but not every community has an engineer on staff familiar with retroreflectivity. To aid these agencies, Paul Carlson’s team compiled a toolkit with management resources for keeping track of signs that need to be replaced without having to assess every sign.

“The toolkit gives an overview of what retroreflectivity is, explains compliance and maintenance issues and provides the various forms and letters needed for funding,” says Carlson. “It provides the non-engineer some methods and strategies for maintaining retroreflectivity to the new standard.”

Originally the toolkit was planned as an online resource only. After pilot testing, researchers realized there was also a need for a hardcopy version, so it’s now available through the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP). One of their most popular publications, approximately 60,000 copies of the guide have been printed to date.

Private companies also use the toolkit. Joanne Conrad, digital division manager for Traffic and Parking Control Company, travels around the country educating transportation professionals on traffic signs and retroreflectivity. “When we hold tech sessions on how to make a retroreflective sign, I can walk them through the Sign Retroreflectivity Guidebook and show them how to maintain their signs as well,” says Conrad. “I carry copies with me to hand out when I do conferences and tradeshows. It’s a wonderful tool for smaller agencies.”

The WSDOT Express Lanes Project: Research into Practice

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:31:40 +0000

I-405 in Seattle, Wash., is part of the larger I-405/SR 167 corridor. I-405 is a candidate for future express toll lanes.

Congestion is bad and getting worse across the country. Space for new lanes is limited, and funding for new construction is nearly nonexistent.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is familiar with the quandary. Its Interstate 405/State Route 167 corridor is often congested for 10 hours each work day. The high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are so popular that carpoolers and transit riders no longer receive the travel-time savings and trip-time reliability they’ve come to rely on. The area is projected to grow by 1 million residents over the next 20 years.

Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin chaired an expert review panel on WSDOT‘s study of the 30-mile corridor in 2009. The study suggested a system of express toll (or managed) lanes to help ease the congestion.

Express toll lanes would give drivers the option of using existing HOV lanes by paying an adjustable toll to avoid congestion in the general purpose lanes. While designed to reduce overall congestion, express lanes also generate revenue for future corridor improvements. WSDOT planners wanted input on the viability of the plan from national experts.

“We wanted Goodin heading up the team,” Craig Stone, WSDOT toll division director said. “She’s well respected across the country for her knowledge of projects like ours, so we were thrilled she agreed to guide the expert panel.”

Goodin is considered a pioneer in managed lanes research. Working with TTI Senior Research Engineer Beverly Kuhn, she co-led a TTI team in developing foundational guidance for the Texas Department of Transportation beginning in 2000, which has supported the development of numerous managed lanes projects across Texas and the nation.

“The concept of managed lanes was fairly slow to take off,” Goodin explains. “But now most new urban road projects have some element of managed lanes in the plan.”

High-occupancy toll lanes, like the one seen here on Seattle's SR 167 corridor, are part of a larger strategy to relieve congestion and improve mobility in Washington State.

In addition to Goodin, the expert review panel consisted of Robert Poole, an independent transportation consultant; Chuck Fuhs of Parson Brinckerhoff; Jennifer Tsien of the Florida Turnpike Enterprise; and Janet Lee of Public Resource Advisory Group. Additional expertise was provided by TTI‘s Steve Venglar, Jeff Shelton, Phillip Reeder, Curtis Beaty and Nick Wood, who reviewed the analytical tools and methods WSDOT planners used to develop their plan for the corridor.

The final report addresses four areas of interest, including policy, methodology, phasing and finances. In each case, the panel determined that WSDOT‘s plan was viable. The Washington State Legislature will vote on the issue by spring.

“I think the work we did shows how TTI research can support the development of projects in a very practical way,” Goodin said. “What we brought to the table was a respected technical team of researchers to provide expert review and independent opinion.”

Express toll lanes would give drivers the option of using existing HOV lanes by paying an adjustable toll to avoid congestion in the general purpose lanes. While designed to reduce overall congestion, express lanes also generate revenue for future corridor improvements. WSDOT planners wanted input on the viability of the plan from national experts.

“The concept of managed lanes was fairly slow to take off. But now most new urban road projects have some element of managed lanes in the plan.”Ginger Goodin, TTI Senior Research Engineer

For more information:

Ginger Goodin
(512) 467-0946
g-goodin@tamu.edu

See the report at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ Tolling/EastsideCorridor/ Report.htm.

Improved Urban Mobility Report Distributed

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:35:19 +0000

The Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI‘s) 20th Urban Mobility Report (UMR) presents the most accurate picture yet of how much time commuters in 439 metropolitan areas spend in traffic and how much that congestion costs. Released Jan. 20, the report uses GPS-enabled vehicles and mobile devices to monitor traffic speeds with data from INRIX, a leading private-sector provider of traffic information.

“The recent TTI-INRIX collaboration took much of the estimation out of calculating congestion because the data reflect the actual speeds of vehicles,” notes TTI Research Engineer Tim Lomax, lead author of the UMR. “Knowing exactly how fast traffic is moving, we can calculate delays fairly easily with precision not available before.”

The report shows a drop in congestion from 2006 to 2007 and then, as expected, a slight increase in 2009 — thanks to a slowly improving economy and lower gasoline prices.

Researchers determined that the cumulative cost of 2009 congestion was $115 billion in wasted time and fuel. That’s $808 for each of us, on average.

“This year’s report is a remarkable game changer,” TTI Associate Research Scientist David Schrank explains. “The new data address the biggest shortcoming of previous reports. The data show conditions for every day of the year and include the effect of weather problems, traffic crashes, special events, holidays, work zones and other factors directly impacting traffic flow.”

As in past years, Lomax, Schrank and TTI Senior Research Engineer Shawn Turner handled a barrage of media inquiries from across the country. Nearly 400 newspapers, 60 television stations (including CNN and NBC) and dozens of radio stations printed or aired stories on the findings.

“It is about building more roads and public transportation,” Turner explains. “But it’s also about managing what we have more efficiently, providing more and better information to commuters, and coordinating transportation investments and land use so that people aren’t forced to drive everywhere for basic everyday services.”

The report recommends a balanced and diversified approach to reducing traffic congestion, including the following strategies:

Get as much use as possible out of the existing transportation system.
Add roadway and public transportation capacity in the places where it’s needed most.
Change our travel patterns, employing ideas like ridesharing and flexible work times to avoid traditional “rush hours.”
Provide more choices, such as alternate routes, telecommuting and toll lanes to facilitate faster, more reliable trips.
Diversify land-development patterns to make walking, biking and mass transit more practical.

The report determined that public transportation services and the use of roadway operational treatments like incident management programs, advanced traveler information and freeway ramp metering reduced congestion by more than 1 billion hours of delay and saved more than 900 million gallons of fuel. Those two factors alone accounted for a congestion-cost savings of $25 billion in 2009.

The presidents of the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) were quoted in a Washington Post story. Both associations are sponsors of the UMR.

“There is no doubt that expanding public transportation use is the key to reducing traffic congestion,” APTA President William Millar said.

ARTBA President and CEO Pete Ruane noted, “The report makes one thing crystal clear. The failure of elected leaders at all levels of government to adequately invest in transportation improvements is taking an alarming toll on American families and businesses.”

Based on the report, the top 10 congested areas are

Chicago
Washington, D.C.
Los Angeles
Houston
Baltimore
San Francisco
Dallas
Boston
Denver
Atlanta
Seattle

Texas Lawmakers Are Increasingly Turning to TTI for Answers to Questions Like These

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:42:11 +0000

Is there a hidden cost to better fuel economy?
Are there alternative approaches for paying for road construction and maintenance?
What does congestion cost the typical Texas household?
Are there other ways to move freight across the border?

The depth and breadth of Texas Transportation Institute’s expertise in all facets of transportation are valuable assets to lawmakers charged with addressing the state’s growing transportation needs. TTI has responded to an unprecedented number of information requests from individual lawmakers, legislative committees, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House. Here’s a sampling.

Is there a hidden cost to better fuel economy?

Alternative-fuel vehicles, while good for the environment, will definitely have a negative impact on Texas' fuel-tax revenues.

Yes — and it’s growing, according to TTI Research Scientist David Ellis. In testimony provided to the joint committee meeting of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee last May, Ellis outlined the impact of key transportation finance variables including fuel efficiency, fuel consumption, debt service and vehicle registration fees. In the short term, better vehicle fuel efficiency is generating less revenue from the fuel tax at a time when road construction and maintenance costs are rising. In the long run, electric vehicles will generate no fuel tax revenue at all to cover the costs of the roads on which they drive. The two committees sought input from Ellis regarding the effect of Texas’ population growth on vehicle miles traveled, projected fuel efficiencies and construction commodity prices.
Are there alternative approaches for paying for road construction and maintenance?

How to pay for our state's roadways is a key question under consideration by the Texas Legislature.

As vehicles move away from traditional fuels to energy sources like electricity, the importance of identifying new ways to finance our transportation infrastructure grows. That effort is well underway at TTI.

TTI Senior Research Engineer Ginger Goodin and Associate Transportation Researcher Trey Baker testified before the Subcommittee on Funding of the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding last October on one possible exploratory study of using vehicle mileage fees (VMFs) in Texas. A similar briefing was held for legislative staffers prior to the current session.

Moving toward an actual ‘user fee’ for roadways represents a significant change over the current funding system, which taxes fuel purchases as a proxy for road use. The VMF study gathered input and perspectives from Texans, as well as engaged a panel of technology experts to outline possible deployment options for such a fee. Public concerns the researchers encountered included privacy issues, administrative costs and questions about enforcement.
What does congestion cost the typical Texas household?

The costs of congestion are evident at the pump since more time spent idling during rush hour burns more fuel.

In October, Ellis and TTI Research Engineer Tim Lomax appeared before the Select Committee on Transportation Funding of the Texas House of Representatives to assess congestion costs to Texas households under six different scenarios:

The costs of congestion are evident at the pump since more time spent idling during rush hour burns more fuel.
- current funding trend;
- increasing vehicle registration fees by $30;
- doubling vehicle registration fees;
- spending $4 billion annually on new construction and $2 billion annually on maintenance;
- using Texas Emissions Reduction Plan funds to offset bond and
- pass-through debt and using oil severance-tax revenues to recapture bond and pass-through debt.
The researchers plotted two variables for each of the six scenarios:
- the impact of congestion on common consumer commodity prices; and
- the cost, in terms of both extra travel time and extra fuel, of not addressing congestion.
Two trends emerged from this analysis:
- By 2035, the annual cost of congestion for Texas households, on average, will increase from the current $1,500 to almost $5,400.
- If congestion costs were kept at current levels, every $1 in transportation infrastructure improvements would produce an estimated $6 in economic benefit.
The researchers found that the $4 billion-per-year construction investment would likely result in saving the typical household $3,390 per year by 2035, while costing each household only $350.
Are there other ways to move freight across the border?

In a presentation to the Senate Committee on International Relations and Trade May 4, 2010, TTI Assistant Agency Director Steve Roop reported on the potential of a private-sector freight shuttle system to greatly improve border freight movement. The Freight Shuttle combines technology and operational strategies to provide sustainable and productive freight transportation. It’s designed to address critical freight transportation challenges, including:

Implementing innovative ideas that work, like TTI's Freight Shuttle, is vital to the future of the Texas economy.
- increasing predictability in freight movement;
- improving productivity, measured in terms of the relationship between cost and capacity;
- reducing infrastructure deterioration by removing vehicles from public roadways;
- improving air quality and
- providing greater security, improved safety and better risk management.
Using the best features of truck and rail freight movement, the freight shuttle system is an automated, non-stop, non-divertible means of moving both containerized and trailer-based goods, Roop noted.

Walk This Way — and Bicycle Too

Chris Sasser — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:20:33 +0000

CAMPO, TTI Use Pedestrian/Bicycle Counts to Improve Transportation Network

A worker completes installation of a bike traffic counter device.

The Live Music Capital of the World has one more thing to sing about — its pedestrian and bicycle pathways.

The Austin area is committed to environmental protection and has made great strides in incorporating pedestrian and bicycle traffic into its transportation plans. Travelers using nonmotorized means enjoy scenic paths throughout the area — created with utility and safety in mind, in addition to their visual charms. Though patrons of these pathways see the effort’s success, it can be hard to quantify. Enter the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI).

TTI assisted the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) in examining pedestrian and bicycle pathways. To see if a transportation improvement has actually had a positive effect, you first need baseline data — how many pedestrians and bicyclists used the path before the improvement? After the improvement, you gather data again — has the improvement drawn more users, and was the benefit worth the cost? Figuring out how to gather this information was the job of TTI researchers.

“We gathered data at 15 locations in the Austin area,” says Joan Hudson, TTI associate research engineer. “Using TTI and City of Austin cameras, we took video counts of traffic using the pathways.”

Video counts of traffic, which entail a person watching the video and counting each user, is labor intensive, so the research team also tested and evaluated new equipment for automated traffic counts. Based on these tests, CAMPO purchased two permanent counters and installed them in downtown Austin, allowing for ongoing data collection and analysis.

“We need at least one year of data to begin to identify possible use trends, which include seasonal variations and how traffic fluctuates over the day, week, etc.,” says Hudson. “The permanent counters will give CAMPO important baseline data on how people are using the route and will let the agency forecast future use.”

Workers test the traffic counter equipment by riding a bicycle through the sensor area.

CAMPO also purchased portable counting equipment for use in evaluating areas for prospective improvements, such as adding a shoulder or bike lane to a roadway. Information from counters allows the agency to compare different improvement projects, in addition to later evaluating the success of the project through comparison of before-and-after data. TTI also developed tools to identify missing links in the pedestrian/bicycle network and to forecast usage.

“The forecasting method TTI developed allows us to evaluate projects and their impact on the transportation system,” says Greg Griffin, senior planner with CAMPO. “With the tools TTI has provided, we can get objective data about demand that we can use in combination with public involvement for long-range planning. This is the first step in equalizing the transportation modes.”

“The first installation of the two permanent bike/pedestrian counters was on the new Lance Armstrong Bikeway at W. 3rd and Shoal Creek, which is very near Lance Armstrong’s bicycle shop called Mellow Johnny’s. We had just turned on the equipment after installation and were ready to test when here comes a sharp-looking bicyclist — Lance himself. So the first Eco Counter installation in Texas was on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, and who is the first person to be counted but Lance Armstrong himself.”Joan Hudson, TTI Associate Research Engineer

For more information:

Joan Hudson
(512) 467-0946
j-hudson@ttimail.tamu.edu

Texas A&M Transportation Institute» Volume 47, Number 1

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

Volume 47, Number 1 (2011)

Inside This Issue:

Editorial

Planning

Safety

Mobility

Legislature

Bicycle and Pedestrian

Education

Infrastructure

Institute News

TTI Publications

TTI Research: Making Things Better

Or, Why Transportation Research Is More Important Than Ever

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

Workshops Bring Local, State Planners Together

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Funding Tomorrow’s Transportation in Texas: Not a Question of If…a Question of How

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Rural Transportation Planning: It’s Not Just for Urban Areas Anymore

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Enlightening Sign Time: TTI Helps Spread the Word about New National Retroreflectivity Standards

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

The WSDOT Express Lanes Project: Research into Practice

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Improved Urban Mobility Report Distributed

Based on the report, the top 10 congested areas are

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Texas Lawmakers Are Increasingly Turning to TTI for Answers to Questions Like These

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information:

Walk This Way — and Bicycle Too

CAMPO, TTI Use Pedestrian/Bicycle Counts to Improve Transportation Network

This Issue

Implementation: Where the Research Meets the Road

On this page:

For more information: