Transit Facilities in New Hampshire DOT Rights-of-Way

42372K, A005(087)Public transit providers in New Hampshire have bus stops, transit amenities, and way finding signage within public highway rights-of-way (ROWs), including state-maintained ROWs. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) lacked a clear policy or process by which a transit provider seeks and gains approval to implement these facilities and amenities. NHDOT recognized the need to formalize this process to create a more consistent, transparent, and effective process. This report documents a literature review and interviews with NHDOT staff, transit agencies, and peer Departments of Transportation (DOT) to summarize current practices in New Hampshire and peer states involving transit stop approval. The research outputs include a form that can be used to request transit stop installation or improvements and a process flow establishing responsibilities for reviewing and approving the request

Small Communities Benefits: Innovative Traffic Management Practices in Small Communities

DTFH61-01-C-00181Aiming to draw attention to progressive and innovative traffic management practices that could be viable in similar locations or situations, this report features five model small communities. The examples have been selected in order to achieve a balance of varying population sizes, traffic management solution types, and geographical locations. Monrovia, California (pop. 37,000) was experiencing collisions or near-misses between emergency vehicles and motorists at intersections. In response, the city deployed an emergency vehicle preemption and visual warning system. Towson, Maryland (pop. 52,000) constructed a modern roundabout to improve a dangerous, congested, five-way signalized intersection at the city center. Mount Desert Island, Maine (pop. 10,000), home to Acadia National Park, instituted a seasonal shuttle bus service to permit continued growth in tourism without continued growth in traffic congestion and vehicle emissions. Orem, Utah (pop. 84,000) installed a computerized traffic signal coordination system to improve traffic congestion in the central business district. And Aspen, Colorado (pop. 8,000) established a nonprofit car sharing organization to reduce the parking demand, in a community where demand for residential parking exceeds supply

Central Texas Extreme Weather and Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment of Regional Transportation Infrastructure

This report presents the results of a Climate Resilience Pilot Project conducted by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), the City of Austin Office of Sustainability, and sponsored in part by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The specific purpose of this study was to assess the potential vulnerability of a limited selection of critical transportation assets in the CAMPO region to the effects of extreme weather and climate; to highlight lessons learned in the process, and to outline potential next steps toward enhancing the resilience of the region\u2019s transportation infrastructure. The assets evaluated include roadways, bridges, and rail, and the climate-related stressors considered were flooding, drought, extreme heat, wildfire, and extreme cold (icing). Commensurate with the region\u2019s Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) \u2013 under development at the time of writing), the year 2040 was selected as the analysis horizon

Statewide Capital Investment Strategy and Update

18-PROSV-00633This research is focused on updating the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) Statewide Capital Investment Strategy (SCIS), which outlines NJDOT\u2019s strategy to comprehensively invest in deficiencies and improvements to address statewide system goals. The update of the SCIS is a requirement under the Transportation Trust Fund Authority Act (TTF). The research approach describes statewide system goals, performance objectives and recommended capital investments, strategies and projects in four key transportation areas \u2013 infrastructure preservation, safety, mobility and congestion relief and mass transit. The approach includes engagement with staff in NJDOT, New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA), South Jersey Transportation Authority (SJTA), and NJ Transit. The approach also documents the process and information sources used to update the SCIS to enable efficient updates in the future including: \u2022 Inventorying relevant transportation investment plans for New Jersey, including capital programs for NJDOT, NJTA, SJTA and NJ Transit. \u2022 Coordinating amongst all SCIS stakeholders, including key collaborators at NJDOT, NJTA, SJTA and NJ Transit. \u2022 Drafting a complete SCIS document that meets all legislative requirements outlined in the state\u2019s Transportation Trust Fund Authority Act (TTF Act). \u2022 Documenting the process and information sources used to update the SCIS, to ensure that the SCIS may be easily and efficiently updated in future years

Notes from Carbon Free Boston Transportation Advisory Group meeting #4, August 20, 2018

Notes from Carbon Free Boston Transportation Technical Advisory Group Meeting #4 held on August 20, 2018

Accounting for Commercial Vehicles in Urban Transportation Models: Task 4 - Methods, Parameters, and Data Sources

In October 2002, the Federal Highway Administration began a research project to evaluate the magnitude and distribution of commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The research was designed to look at all travel that is not adequately represented by the current state-of-the-practice for urban transportation planning models, which are developed from household travel surveys. Household travel surveys are designed only to capture household-related personal travel. Trips made for commercial purposes or using commercial vehicles are not captured. Some household travel surveys may inadvertently capture commercial trips such as realtors or tradesman making door-to-door visits but this does not represent a comprehensive assessment of this type of commercial vehicle travel. To date, the literature and modeling for commercial vehicles has focused on urban freight distribution. The state-of-the-practice in the modeling of commercial vehicle travel in the urban transportation context has been geared toward developing a limited number of commercial vehicle trip generation factors, typically only disaggregated by truck type; for example, light, medium and heavy trucks. The traditional approach of relating these rates to land use activity has been found to be limited for application in travel demand modeling due to lack of data on differences in trip purpose, vehicle occupancy, and origin-destination (O-D) patterns. This study is the first to develop methods for forecasting all commercial vehicles, rather than just those involved in the distribution of urban freight. This project is the first phase of a two-phase project to develop methods for forecasting commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The goal of the first phase is to research, evaluate and identify methods for forecasting commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The goal of the second phase is to develop these methods and estimate parameters that can be used in urban transportation planning models across the country. The first phase has three primary work tasks: 1. Assess recent and current literature relevant to the treatment of different types of commercial vehicles in urban transportation models. As part of this work, a set of commercial vehicle categories was established. 2. Compile available data and information and estimate the magnitude and spatial/ temporal distribution of different types of commercial vehicles. As part of this work, the commercial vehicle categories were refined and prioritized. 3. Develop methods and data sources that can be used to forecast commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The focus of this report is on the third work task to identify methods, parameters and data sources that can be used to estimate and forecast commercial vehicles in urban transportation planning models. The purpose of this phase of the project was not to estimate the parameters, but rather to identify the parameters that would be most appropriate. As part of the previous work efforts, we defined a commercial vehicle as one that is used primarily for commercial purposes. Some, but not all, commercial vehicles will be registered as commercial vehicles, since some vehicles registered as non-commercial may be used primarily for commercial purposes (we expect that these would be used for business and personal services). Commercial vehicles include autos, trucks and buses and are operated by both public and private sector agencies

Michigan DOT Climate Vulnerability Assessment Pilot Project

This study was conducted by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to better understand future climate and extreme weather risks, and to identify approaches for integrating climate risk analysis into MDOT\u2019s planning practices. This work included: Identifying the primary climate stressors impacting the transportation system in Michigan; Reviewing the transportation and climate data needed to assess those impacts and identifying gaps that limit what can be done with current data; Examining risks from future climate and extreme weather impacts; Assessing the vulnerability of transportation assets to those risks; and Defining strategies for incorporating this information into asset management and agency decision-making

Updating 2019 Safe Corridors Reports

18-PROSV-00633NJDOT, in conjunction with the Division of State Police, is required to submit a Safe Corridors Program Assessment Report annually under N.J.S.A. 39:3-20.4. Therefore, there is a need to provide results of the safe corridor areas, as well as the highway safety projects and programs paid for by the fund, within the past year to the Senate Transportation Committee and the Assembly Transportation Committee, the President and minority leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and the minority leader of the General Assembly. This research was conducted in two phases. The first phase consisted of trend analysis for overall crashes within these designated areas, changes in fatal crashes and crash rates, and how that relates to the enforcement of stricter penalties associated with various traffic violations. The second phase provided an update to the selection methodology which is driven by Equivalent Property Damage Only (EPDO) values and crash thresholds. The selection process is based on prioritizing corridors with the highest crash costs, as well as crash thresholds consistent with various department priority lists and standards. The EPDO methodology is consistent with the grant program\u2019s method for distributing funds to municipalities through which the corridors pass

Approaches to Target Setting for PM3 Measures

DTFH61-16-D-00051Targets and measures are key components of performance management and are critical to communicating information about the transportation system to decision-makers, stakeholders, and the traveling public. Target setting for travel time-based measures has emerged as a challenge in transitioning to a performance management-based approach for making transportation investment and policy decisions, as mandated by Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and Fixing America\u2019s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. This report provides potential approaches and resources to State Departments of Transportation (DOT) and local agencies to help overcome those challenges. Approaches include technical options for developing the information to support target setting

Approaches for Communicating Third Performance Management Rule Measures, Metrics, and Targets

DTFH61-16-D-00051The Federal Highway Administration third performance management rule (PM3) measures support system performance, freight movement, and the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program. The PM3 measures include the National Highway Performance Program (NHPP) Travel Time Reliability (reliability) measures and the freight reliability measure. They also require applicable metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to measure two CMAQ traffic congestion measures\u2014Annual Hours of Peak Hour Excessive Delay (PHED) per capita and Non-Single Occupancy Vehicle (Non-SOV) share\u2014and CMAQ Total Emissions Reduction. Through the use of case studies, examples, and other research, this report describes practices to communicate PM3 measures, metrics, and targets