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Session 3A: Roadside Safety (Room 106) Moderator: Michael Castellano, Federal Highway Administration
The Guide Rail End Treatment Update project is updating all existing guide rail end treatments throughout the turnpike system, including western extensions and the Northeast Extension. This project brings all the end treatments into compliance with current standards. Several portions of the system have been completed, while the remainder are in final design. This presentation will summarize the design considerations and construction issues that came about during this project.
Session 3B: Transportation Operations at PennDOT (Room 208)
After completing a detailed analysis, PennDOT has begun implementation of a five-year statewide operations program. Implementation will include two regional traffic management centers (RTMCs) and a statewide TMC/RTMC. When completed, these centers will provide statewide operational capabilities on a 24/7 basis. Other projects to be completed under the five-year effort include ITS software integration, center-to-center connectivity, and the beginning of a 511 system for Pennsylvania. The current time line includes limited operations within a two-year period, and full operation at all three centers within five years.
Session 3C: PennDOT's New and Revised Traffic Publications (Room 206)
PennDOT developed the Traffic Engineering and Operations Manual (Pub. 46) in the mid-1980s while the Traffic Engineering and Operations Division was part of the Bureau of Maintenance. The goal was to compile all internal traffic-engineering policies into a single document and to update it on a regular basis, incorporating new policies and then canceling the internal directives (i.e., strike-off letters). Unfortunately, the department was not able to update many of the chapters, and the current Pub. 46 is not available in an electronic format. The goal of the new update is to eliminate most of the approximate 150 strike-off letters and to incorporate them into Pub. 46 in a logical order and a common format. The new chapters are organized to conform to the MUTCD to make it easier for users. This is an ideal time for this update since the department recently eliminated the bulk of its traffic-engineering regulations when it adopted the MUTCD. Therefore, numerous references in both the current Pub. 46 and the strike-off letters are obsolete. The current Pub. 46 and most of the strike-off letters are not available outside the department, not even to consultants. The department will change this policy and make the new manual available as an electronic document.
Session 3D: Public-Private Partnerships for Highway Projects in Pennsylvania (Room 105)
The presentation will focus on economic development projects that lend themselves to partnership agreements, in order to expedite the preconstruction and construction phases. The discussion will focus on regional planning, highway occupancy permits, and funding opportunities.
Session 4A: Pedestrian/Bicycle Issues (Room 105)
The FHWA has developed some new tools to assist state and local agencies in reducing the number and severity of crashes involving motor vehicles with either pedestrians or bicyclists. PBCAT is a software program to categorize ped and bike crashes into "types." PEDSAFE and BIKESAFE are two new expert systems for selecting the most appropriate countermeasures for particular crash types. The Ped/Bike Intersection Hazard Index allows local practitioners to prioritize intersections for improvements. New Hispanic ped safety materials are available, and pedestrian road safety audits are being developed. This session will highlight these new tools from FHWA.
This presentation will summarize the findings of a safety evaluation of the effects of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's yield-to-pedestrian channelizing devices (YTPCDs)—stand-alone reflective signs positioned on the centerline prior to a marked crosswalk—on motorist and pedestrian behavior. Behavioral data were collected in a variety of community settings and location types, and before and after implementation of the devices. The results of the data analysis will be presented, along with recommendations for future YTPCD use.
In the 2006 Keystone Healthy Zone Assessment,* 83% of the schools reported not having a written policy that supports walking to school, and only 2% of respondents report having a supervised Walking School Bus program. In Pennsylvania and nationally, Safe Routes to School initiatives are taking communities by storm in the wake of SAFETEA-LU legislation. This presentation will provide a brief background on the Pennsylvania Advocates for Nutrition and Activity and then highlight PANA's current involvements with Safe Routes to School initiatives and Walk to (or at) School Day in Pennsylvania. Specifically highlighted will be the programmatic aspects for schools and communities to get involved with the initiative through education and encouragement regarding the use of SRTS. *1,677 school buildings responded, representing 79% of the school districts in Pennsylvania. Session 4B: Work Zone Innovations (Room 206)
Session 4C: America's Critical Connections: Planning, Constructing, and Preserving the Nation's Transportation Infrastructure, Sponsored by HNTB Corporation (Room 208)
Session 4D: Homeland Security (Room 106)
Session 5A: SAFETEA-LU—Now and Beyond (Room 106)
Moderator: Evelyn Thomchick, Penn State
The FHWA Freight Analysis Framework (FAF) freight flow O-D coverage is limited to 131 freight analysis zones that include 114 CFS freight O-D zones and 17 major ports, border crossings, and freight ports. The FAF commodity flow data were benchmarked to 2002 and will be forecasted to 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025, 2030, and 2035. However, this aggregate level of freight data significantly limits the ability to quantify the freight demand on each highway transportation link, which means that many key public-sector decision-making applications cannot be addressed fully. These key applications include identification of regional and national significant freight corridors, roadway preservation and capacity need assessments, freight bottleneck assessment, assessment of freight diversion due to "what if" policy decisions on the network supply and improvements, dedicated truck lanes, and the impact of natural and man-made disasters on national freight movement. The "FAF2: Freight Traffic Analysis" project is expected to provide transparent and credible data and methodology in the analysis of national freight movement as related to transportation infrastructure facilities. While FAF is designed to establish analytical tools and databases to answer national issues, state DOTs, local MPOs, and other organizations and businesses are expected to benefit from the lessons and experience gained from the process. In addition, state DOTs, MPOs, and other organizations and businesses can utilize the FAF2 data to supplement their own local data.
Moderator: Dave Tomaswick, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
Kittelson & Associates, Inc. (KAI), is leading a research team in identifying and evaluating treatments and developing guidelines for reducing vehicle speeds on approaches to high-speed intersections. Through a comprehensive literature review and survey of state agencies, they have investigated geometric design treatments and evaluated traffic signs and pavement markings on signalized, unsignalized, and roundabout intersections. They evaluated speed reduction treatments such as rumble strips, dynamic warning signs, and transverse pavement markings to determine their applicability, key features, and impacts on speed and safety. A testing plan was developed based on prioritizing those treatments that have the highest potential to reduce speeds at intersections. The team coordinated with state agencies throughout the nation to install rumble strips, transverse pavement markings, or dynamic warning signs at thirteen intersections. Speed data from the before and after testing at each intersection will help determine the effectiveness of each type of treatment tested. Results of the team's efforts will be presented to NCHRP as a framework for guidelines on applying speed reduction treatments. These guidelines will provide guidance to engineers and planners in selecting appropriate speed reduction treatments for new design and retrofit of high-speed intersection approaches.
Moderator: Greg Cerminara, Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
Session 6A: Safety Research (Room 105)
Traffic signals are one of the primary constraints on corridor capacity in the highway/arterial network. The extent to which through traffic is impeded is heavily dependent on the quality of the signal timings. Poor signal timings can result in significant congestion that could otherwise be avoided, or at the very least minimized. The results of congestion typically include driver delay and frustration, increased air pollution, wasted fuel, and lost productivity. Improved algorithms and optimization procedures are constantly being developed, each aimed at providing analytical tools or field equipment that, if implemented, will improve travel conditions on the major corridors without serious detriment to the minor traffic flows. The purpose of this research was to use the Synchro/SimTraffic models in the development and assessment of signal timing alternatives on a congested corridor. The simulation model was used to assess four signal timing alternatives to improve operations in the congested S.R. 0021 corridor in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Considerable effort was devoted to the collection of field data and the calibration of the microsimulation model to the field observations. Findings of the analysis surprisingly indicated that the benefits of progression provided by coordination were far outweighed by the costs incurred through the loss of flexibility at a critical two-intersection system when semi-actuated control with a fixed cycle length was imposed.
The objective of this project was to evaluate the operational effects of using wider edge lines on horizontal curves along two-lane rural highways in Pennsylvania. A before-and-after observational study with comparison sites was used to evaluate the change in several performance measures, including mean speed, speed variance, encroachment frequency, mean lateral vehicle position in the travel lane, lateral vehicle position variance, and speed and lateral vehicle position differential between the tangent and midpoint of a horizontal curve. Day- and night-time periods were considered, as were approach tangent and horizontal curve locations. The effects of vehicles traveling in the opposing travel lane were also considered in the evaluation. The results indicate that wide edge lines do not consistently change the encroachment proportion along curves, nor do they consistently change driver behavior patterns at all treatment locations as measured by speed and lateral vehicle position. The location of speed deceleration, based on a subjective assessment of speed profile plots, provides evidence that drivers recognize curves at night from a greater distance with wide edge lines when compared with similar curves with standard, four-inch-wide edge lines. Session 6B: Innovative Technology for ITS (Room 206)Moderator: Mike Pack, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
The I-95 Corridor Coalition is considering a public-private partnership for the acquisition of traffic flow information on the member's roadways. The coalition would be providing funding to the private sector that can be used to leverage the installation, operations, and maintenance of a system (or systems) capable of providing real-time travel time data on the selected roadways. The availability of ubiquitous surveillance information will permit the coalition member agencies to provide improved transportation planning, traffic monitoring and management, and enhanced traveler information. This presentation will provide an overview of the technical benefits of this ambitious project, and will discuss some of the institutional issues associated with its successful implementation. It will also summarize the project status and schedule.
The Regional Integrated Transportation Information System (RITIS) is a transportation data management and integration tool that will support traveler information, operations, research, and the Regional Transportation Coordination Program's (RTCP) efforts to improve the safety, efficiency, and security of travel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. RITIS is integrating existing transit and transportation management system data from parts of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia into a regional integrated transportation information system. RITIS will emphasize data fusion and its relationship to data collection, regional transportation systems management, regional traveler information dissemination, and systems evaluation. The system will enhance ongoing activities performed by individual agencies, companies, and the public by providing each with real-time, regional information in a standardized electronic format. This presentation will discuss the progress in the RITIS with respect to the four main RITIS functions: regional incident management; support for emergency management; data archiving; and traveler information. Session 6C: Alternative and Creative Designs (Room 106)
The purpose of the study was to determine the feasibility of construction improvements at the intersection of Walnut Street (SR 0022) and Progress Avenue (SR 3015) in Susquehanna Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
Moderator: Jack Lettiere, Edwards and Kelcey Whether it is rail to truck, truck to truck, ship to rail, or any combination thereof, effective connections are the key to efficient and safe freight movement through commercial means. Experts in freight movement from the I-95 Corridor Coalition, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Tri-County Regional Planning Commission, and Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association will present their perspectives on how freight can be impacted by homeland security concerns and issues, which freight modes are set to be expanded in the future, what modes are yet to be developed, and how the movement of freight is seen from a macroeconomic point of view. Featured initiatives will include Pennsylvania's I-81 corridor; the Northeast's I-95 corridor; and Chicago's historic public-private partnership, the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program (CREATE).
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an outreach program of the College of Engineering and the Mid-Atlantic Universities Transportation Center | |||
