21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies

THEOPERATIONSSTORY

THEOPERATIONSSTORY

T he ability to move about our neighborhood,our city, and between cities has been taken forgranted for years. Transportation mobility

affects our ability to do our jobs, our quality of life,and the economic productivity of our country. Intoday’s environment, mobility is also important tosafety and security. Increasingly, mobility is jeopard-ized by congestion and unexpected delays. The TexasTransportation Institute estimates that in 2001, 75 ofthe largest metropolitan areas experienced 3.5 billionvehicle-hours of delay, resulting in 5.7 billion gallonsin wasted fuel and $69.5 billion in lost productivity.

The effects of congestion are growing. “Rush hour”is no longer an hour in many places. In 1982,“rushhour” in larger urban areas averaged two to threehours; in 1999,“rush hour” in these same areas hadincreased to five to six hours. Congestion is notrestricted to large metropolitan areas. While thegrowth of congestion is most severe in the largesturban areas, congested travel in mid-sized citiestripled between 1982 and 2001. Congestion issteadily increasing in rural areas as well, particularlyalong major freight corridors and near recreationsites. Delays at international borders, intermodalfacilities such as ports, and along heavily traveledfreight corridors degrade productivity and reduceglobal competitiveness.

It has been estimated that approximately half of thecongestion experienced by Americans happens virtu-

ally in the same location and at the same time everyday—it is “recurring.” Traffic demand exceeds theavailable capacity of the system and there aresimply more vehicles than available space on the road.However, the other half of the delay results from unex-pected events such as crashes, fog, snow, and workzones. The three main causes of non-recurring conges-tion are: traffic incidents ranging from flat tires to over-turned trucks with hazardous materials (25 percentof congestion), work zones (10 percent of congestion),and adverse weather (15 percent of congestion).

When these temporary disruptions occur duringalready congested conditions they dramaticallyreduce the available roadway capacity, increasecrashes, and make a bad situation much worse.When disruptions occur during non-peak periods or on normally uncongested roads they create a“surprise” for travelers. A mid-afternoon trip that isplanned for 20 minutes suddenly turns into a frustrating 40-minute crawl. Travelers and freightshippers are especially sensitive to unanticipateddisruptions to tightly scheduled personal activitiesand manufacturing distribution activities.

Congestion and unexpected delays affect everythingwe do—going to work, picking up the kids at school,shopping for groceries, pursuing recreational activities,or delivering products to stores for our consumption.For a majority of Americans, congestion and delayshave become a part of daily life.

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What Can be Done?Some will argue that congestion and delays are justsigns of a healthy economy or of a growing metrop-olis, and to a certain extent this is correct. Somecongestion is inevitable. In areas of high growth,the pace at which new capacity can be added to the transportation system is often exceeded by thegrowth of travel. In more developed areas, spacelimitations or environmental issues often limit theability to add additional lanes.

However, there are things that can be done to keepcongestion from severely degrading the quality oflife in our cities, undermining the competitiveness ofour industries, and reducing the safety and reliabilityof our national transportation system. Successfullyreducing the effects of congestion and unexpecteddelays requires three coordinated approaches—construction, preservation, and operation.

Construction projects that add capacity, alleviatehighway bottlenecks, and provide operationalimprovements are one key approach. These projectscan include new highway capacity in high growthareas or along major corridors, and spot improve-ments, such as the elimination of lane drops, additionof turning lanes at intersections, and creation ofpassing lanes on two-lane roadways. Capacityimprovements are particularly important for highwayfreight movement to and from ports and rail termi-nals. We are becoming more dependent on importsand exports to support consumer and manufacturingdemands and to develop new markets for productsand services. Virtually all of this trade uses highwayconnections to intermodal yards and ports. Identifyingand relieving bottlenecks can increase the through-put on highways and enable us to make better useof air, rail, and maritime services to meet growingfreight demands.

Secondly, we must continue to maintain the existingsystem. Many of our roadways and bridges aregrowing old. As our highways approach middle age,rehabilitation and maintenance are a necessary partof sustaining mobility. However, we must maintainthe system in a way that minimizes the disruption totravel during construction, and reduces the need forfuture maintenance.

Finally, we must operate the system smarter and moreaggressively than we have in the past. We no longerhave the luxury of a “build and forget” mentality whenit comes to the management and operation of thesurface transportation system. We must operate the system in a way that maximizes the “available”roadway capacity and minimizes the impacts of“unexpected” events.

Operations: A CommonSense ApproachBetter operation of the transportation system holdsthe potential for substantially improving the wayagencies address recurring and non-recurring conges-tion in all parts of the country and on all parts of thehighway system. The growing congestion problemin urban areas and increasing delays throughout the system—and the implications for productivityand security—spurs the consideration of betterapproaches to transportation operations. An opera-tions approach to the transportation network is aviable and effective strategy to improve traffic flowand meet growing travel demands. In some locations,it may be the only viable alternative. In all locations,it just makes good common sense to want to get asmuch out of existing investments as possible. Withtechnology innovations (intelligent transportationsystems) new tools are now available to make themost of the available roads and capacity.

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The history of highway transportation, until mostrecently, was focused on building and maintainingthe road network. Transportation agencies “grew up”around the need to build roads, beginning with thefarm to market roads of the 1930s and into theInterstate System construction era of the 1950s, 60s,and 70s. As better operations becomes a strategymore fully applied to transportation, it will requirerethinking how services are delivered to those whodepend on the transportation system. Operatingthe system to maximum efficiency will hinge on theability to reshape traditional transportation organiza-tions into “21st century operations agencies using21st century technologies.”

What Is a 21st CenturyOperations Agency?To understand what is meant by a 21st century operations agency, it is helpful to compare historicaltransportation agencies and emerging operationsagencies. To use popular jargon, some things are“out” and others are “in.”

To elaborate, 21st century operations agencies havethe following six characteristics:

Customer focusedA transportation agency that exhibits 21st centuryoperations focuses on and understands the needs ofits customers—residents, tourists, workers, business-

es, and freight shippers and carriers. These agenciesrecognize that travelers care about the quality andreliability of their trip from end-to-end, regardless ofwho “owns” the roadway. Agencies obtain feedbackfrom their customers and are responsive to their travelneeds. They make sure that information about theperformance of the transportation system is readilyavailable, timely, and targeted to customers’ needs.

Performance drivenPerformance of the transportation system will becomea key metric. Today, we largely measure perform-ance in terms of the condition of the physical system.Increasingly, performance measures such as reliabilityand delay will be important determinants of how wellthe system is meeting customers’ needs. These meas-ures are in the early stages of development, and wehave much to learn about the measures and their uses.

Systems approachOperations requires a regional and integrated approachto managing the performance of the transportationsystem. This means having a regional view thattranscends city/county/State boundaries and systemownership. The result is a higher-level concern forthe operation of the entire transportation systemregardless of agency ownership. A systems approachalso refers to the integration of technology such asintelligent transportation systems within and acrossagencies. The performance of the transportationsystem is largely determined by the ability of agenciesto work cooperatively by sharing data and coordinat-ing responsibility.

Real-time managementKey to virtually every operations strategy is real-time,or near real-time, information about what is happen-ing on the roadway system, including information onweather, incidents, speed, volume, or sudden changesin construction plans. This information can be sharedwith the public to help them become part of thesolution, and the information can be shared withmultiple agencies for faster coordination and moreprecise responses. Improved information is also an

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Out In

Project focused Customer focused

Output-oriented Performance-based

Jurisdictions Systems

Historical information Real-time information

8/5 24/7

Reactive Proactive

asset to the freight community. Information on thelocation of freight shipments helps carriers managetheir fleets, helps manufacturers control their inven-tory systems, and provides advance information toFederal agencies concerned with trade facilitationand national security.

24/7Historically, highway agencies develop and adminis-ter projects. This work is largely accomplished during“typical” work hours—8 hours a day, 5 days a week.However, the transportation system functions 24 hoursa day, 7 days a week. Delay can happen any time,any place, and for many reasons. To be responsiveto their customers, operations agencies develop thecapability to conduct some functions on a 24/7 basis.This requires different staff approaches and a changein philosophy.

ProactiveHighway agencies focused on better operations areproactive in anticipating and managing transporta-tion events. They routinely plan for special events,providing signal-timing changes, signs, and travelerinformation. These agencies monitor weather fore-casts and anticipate their impact on transportation.They also plan for traffic impacts from work zones anddesign projects to minimize disruptions to travelersand businesses. Operations agencies fully plan forthe disruptions to traffic in advance of the event.

What Are 21st CenturyTechnologies?21st century technologies, referred to as intelligenttransportation system (ITS) technologies, have beenresearched, deployed, and tested to some degree formore than 10 years. These technologies provideinformation about the transportation system andsupport development of tools that traffic profession-als and travelers never had before. The technologiescan be generally grouped into six types:

Information gatheringToday, technologies collect information more thor-oughly or more frequently than transportation pro-fessionals were able to do in the past. Cameras,traffic sensors, vehicle probes, and weather sensorsare some examples.

Information sharingAs technology matures, an ever-increasing array ofdevices is available to share traveler information.Dynamic message signs, highway advisory radio,5-1-1 telephone services, Internet Web sites, andspecialized warning systems (like fog warnings) areexamples of technologies used routinely to shareinformation with travelers.

ControlThere are also advanced technologies and softwarethat provide improved methods for controlling andmanaging traffic. Advanced traffic signal control pro-vides ways to remotely adjust systems of signals torespond in real time to changing traffic demands.Lane control signals, ramp meters, transit signal priority, and variable speed limit signs are othertechnologies that can control traffic in real time. 5

Vehicle-basedFrom complex crash avoidance technologies to in-vehicle guidance systems currently on the market,vehicle-based technologies hold promise to dramati-cally improve safety and give travelers (includingcommercial drivers) meaningful information abouttravel conditions to help them avoid bottlenecks andother potentially disruptive congestion situations.This is an area of growing technology innovation.

Vehicle to roadside to home baseSometimes referred to as tracing and tracking technol-ogy, this allows fleet operators—trucking companies,transit agencies, snowplow operators—to maintaincontact with their fleets and the cargo they are movingvia satellite systems as well as terrestrial-based systems.This allows assets to be managed more efficiently andimproves on-time performance. These systems areexpanding in use, experiencing lower per unit costs,and have the extra advantage of addressing securityneeds as well as productivity and safety needs.

Payment Electronic toll tags and “smart” cards for transit andparking are technologies being rapidly deployed.These technologies add efficiency to payment oper-ations and expedite traffic flow.

Taken together, these technologies enable new waysof managing the transportation system to improveits operation. The technologies themselves are notthe answer, but the improved ability to operate the system, enabled by the technologies, is key toaddressing congestion and delays.

The opportunity for better managing and operatingthe transportation system to address congestioncomes from combining new technologies with a newfocus on operations within transportation agencies.Agencies that have embraced 21st century operationswill take advantage of new technologies and applythem to achieve better system performance. Applica-tions like freeway management, arterial management,incident and special event management, work zone

mobility and safety management, and road weathermanagement marry technology innovations with adesire to better serve customers through improvedmobility. These same technologies, supplemented bypre-arrival and clearance information for freight atborders and intermodal terminals, can improve freightflows as well.

What Is FHWA Doing toSupport 21st CenturyOperations Using 21st

Century Technologies?The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) identifiedcongestion as one of its “vital few” priority areas. Asdiscussed above,“operations” is one of three strate-gies for addressing congestion. FHWA has a numberof programs designed to accelerate the evolution oftransportation agencies into 21st century operationsagencies using 21st century technologies. FHWA’sprograms are organized to support:

● National recognition of the importance of operations

● Institutional and regional change to enhanceoperations

● Advancements in 21st century operations

National recognition of the importance of operationsFHWA leads the effort to increase the emphasis on andvisibility of transportation operations. This includesanalysis of system performance and identification ofoperational problems and solutions, development ofpolicy and legislation (particularly in preparation forreauthorization of TEA-21), and creation of a NationalTransportation Operations Coalition (NTOC). Throughthe NTOC, the FHWA is working with the leadership of13 transportation associations, including the Institutefor Transportation Engineers (ITE), the AmericanAssociation of State Highway and TransportationOfficials (AASHTO), the Intelligent TransportationSociety of America (ITS America), the American

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Public Transportation Association (APTA), to increasenational attention to the importance of more effectively managing and operating the surfacetransportation system.

Institutional and regional programsBuilding regional partnerships is fundamental to sup-porting 21st century operations. These partnershipsfocus on attracting a wide variety of stakeholdersincluding many, like law enforcement, who are nottypically involved. The partnerships have severalfunctions, such as creating regional performancemeasures that quantify goals for transportation systemoperations. These partnerships are also key to thedeployment of ITS regional architectures, use of ITSstandards, and deployment of integrated ITS solu-tions. FHWA is working aggressively to support thedevelopment of regional partnerships through guid-ance, training and technical assistance, to developperformance measures that capture the day-to-dayoperation of the system, and to assist State and localgovernments in the development and implementa-tion of intelligent transportation system solutions.

Advancements in 21st century operationsImplementing 21st century operations requiresadvancements in nearly all facets of transportationoperations and management. These include:

● Improving day-to-day operations. Agenciesadopting 21st century operations concern them-selves with how well the transportation systemperforms on a daily basis. Consequently, theysupport activities to improve day-to-day opera-tions through demand management, accessmanagement, asset management, application oftraffic control devices and traveler information,and they use traffic analysis tools to betterunderstand problems and possible solutions.

● Reducing recurring congestion. Reducingrecurring congestion requires the developmentand implementation of new technologies andnew approaches for freeway, arterial, and corridormanagement and control.

● Mitigating non-recurring congestion.Aggressive management of temporary disruptions,such as incidents, work zones, weather, and specialevents, can reduce the impacts of these disrup-tions and return the system to “full capacity.”

● Streamlining freight operations. Movement offreight is critical to economic productivity.Agencies adopting 21st century operations workto streamline freight operations through freightanalysis, professional development, freight sizeand weight policies, and freight technology.

● Responding to emergencies. Throughout dailyactivities, transportation agencies must considerpublic safety and security by preparing foremergency response and recovery, and militarycoordination.

FHWA’s Office of Operations has extensive programs toaddress each of these areas. Programs include researchand testing of advancements in the state-of-the-arttechnologies, development of guidance documents,training,documenting best practices,and providing tech-nical assistance to advance the state-of-the-practice.

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Through its institutional and technical leadership, FHWA continues to

advance better transportation system operations as an important approach

to addressing congestion, reducing unexpected delays, and making the

most out of our existing investment. Operating the system at its peak

efficiency and maximizing the available capacity hinges on reshaping

transportation agencies to be customer focused and performance driven

while using systems approaches and real-time management on a 24/7

basis. When transportation agencies embrace this vision and invest in

the institutional change and technology required to make it happen, the

transportation system will be operating in a truly 21st century fashion.

Additional information on these programs isavailable from the FHWA Office ofOperations or visit our Web site at

www.fhwa.dot.gov/operations

U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Highway AdministrationOffice of Transportation OperationsRoom 3408400 Seventh Street, SWWashington, DC 20590

FHWA-OP-04-059April 2004

THEOPERATIONSSTORY

THEOPERATIONSSTORY