Operations - Did You Know? - Archive
In September 2004, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published updates to the work zone regulations at 23 CFR 630 Subpart J. The updated Rule is referred to as the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule and applies to all State and local governments that receive Federal-aid highway funding. Transportation agencies are required to comply with the provisions of the Rule by October 12, 2007. The changes made to the regulations broaden the former Rule to better address the work zone issues of today and the future. For further information and guidance materials, please check out the Final Rule on Work Zone Safety and Mobility, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/resources/final_rule.htm, under the Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program web site. - 1/24/2007
Ramp metering is the use of a traffic signal(s) deployed on a ramp to control the rate at which vehicles enter a freeway facility. By controlling the rate at which vehicles are allowed to enter a freeway, the flow of traffic onto the freeway facility becomes more consistent, smoothing the flow of traffic on the mainline and allowing more efficient use of existing freeway capacity. Ramp metering can be an effective tool to address congestion and safety concerns that occur at a specific point or along a stretch of freeway. Ramp metering can also improve overall system performance by increasing average freeway throughput and travel speed, and decreasing travel delay. Finally, ramp metering can lead to a reduction in fuel consumption and vehicle emissions. - 11/29/2006
Awareness of the effects of weather and emergency events on traffic operations, mobility and public safety has grown substantially in recent years. The Transportation Management Center (TMC) integration study is part of an ongoing FHWA research effort that seeks to document transportation operations across the country and identify strategies that can enhance the operational effectiveness of transportation management systems in general and TMCs in particular. The TMC Integration study documents how weather and emergency information and systems are being integrated into transportation operations now and the potential for applying practical, effective concepts and methods of integration in the future. It is a thesis of this study that integration of weather and emergency systems and information into transportation operations, coupled with effective deployment of ITS, will improve performance and offer benefits in increased public mobility, safety and security. (Source: Integration of Emergency and Weather Elements into Transportation Management Centers, Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-06-090) - 10/18/2006
The 2005 Urban Mobility Report reported road users in 85 U.S. urban areas incurred $63 billion in congestion costs in 2003, resulting in 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel and 3.7 billion hours of lost productivity. Congestion equates to decreased performance and, in turn, economic loss for businesses and trucking companies. Congestion either causes late deliveries or forces truckers to include additional travel time into their itineraries, particularly when making just-in-time deliveries. - 9/14/2006
In 2003, over 62,800 kilometers (39,000 miles) of highways in the United States had peak period congestion, and of these, over 10,900 kilometers (6,800 miles) were in rural areas. - 5/30/2006
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, or MUTCD defines the standards used by road managers nationwide to install and maintain traffic control devices on all streets and highways. The signs, signals, and pavement markings that guide us are called traffic control devices. These devices are the language that communicates to drivers along the Nation's roadways. The MUTCD is published by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) under 23 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 655, Subpart F. - 4/26/2006
The Incident Command System (ICS) is a systematic tool used for the command, control, and coordination of an emergency response. ICS allows agencies to work together using common terminology and operating procedures for controlling personnel, facilities, equipment, and communications at a single incident scene. For more information, please check out the Simplified Guide to the Incident Command System for Transportation Professionals (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-06-004), http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/ics_guide/index.htm. - 3/14/2006
What is Travel Time Reliability? - A formal definition for travel time reliability is: the consistency or dependability in travel times, as measured from day-to-day and/or across different times of the day. Travel time reliability is an increasing concern of travelers, shippers, and businesses. Recent advances in data collection mean that travel time reliability can now be quantified. The FHWA Office of Operations supports a national traffic monitoring program that incorporates reliability measures. This program tracks reliability measures like the buffer index and planning time index in more than 30 cities. For more information, please check out the Operations Performance Measurement Reliability Measures web page, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/perf_measurement/reliability.htm. - 2/7/2006
In September 2004, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published updates to the work zone regulations at 23 CFR 630 Subpart J. The updated rule is referred to as the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule (Rule) and applies to all State and local governments that receive Federal-aid highway funding. Transportation agencies are required to comply with the provisions of the Rule by October 12, 2007. The changes made to the regulations broaden the former rule to better address the work zone issues of today and the future. For more information please visit the Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program web site, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/index.asp - 1/6/2006
WHAT IS CONGESTION? Congestion is relatively easy to recognize - roads filled with cars, trucks, and buses, sidewalks filled with pedestrians. The definitions of the term congestion mention such words as "clog," "impede," and "excessive fullness." For anyone who has ever sat in congested traffic, those words should sound familiar. In the transportation realm, congestion usually relates to an excess of vehicles on a portion of roadway at a particular time resulting in speeds that are slower - sometimes much slower - than normal or "free flow" speeds. Congestion often means stopped or stop-and-go traffic. SOURCE: Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Trends and Advanced Strategies for Congestion Mitigation - 11/21/2005
As we experience increased travel on our roads, there is a growing need for efforts to preserve and improve safety and mobility. Roadway construction, operations, and maintenance are integral in these efforts. Effectively managing the work zone impacts of road construction and maintenance is a key part. In support of these efforts, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published the Work Zone Safety and Mobility Rule (the Rule) on September 9, 2004 in the Federal Register (69 FR 54562). This Rule updates and renames the former regulation on "Traffic Safety in Highway and Street Work Zones" in 23 CFR 630 Subpart J. All State and local governments that receive Federal-aid highway funding are affected by this updated Rule, and are required to comply with its provisions no later than October 12, 2007. While the Rule applies specifically to Federal-aid highway projects, agencies are encouraged to apply the good practices that it fosters to other road projects as well. Source: Implementing the Rule on Work Zone Safety and Mobility (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-05-065) - 10/18/2005
The term "managed lanes" has different meanings to different agencies. In some agencies the term is commonly thought of as high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. In other agencies a broader definition is customary, one in which a variety of management tools and techniques are combined in order to improve freeway efficiency and meet certain corridor and community objectives. This broader definition of "managed lanes" includes High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, value priced lanes (including HOT lanes), and exclusive or special use lanes (such as express, bus-only, or truck-only lanes). Source: MANAGED LANES: A Cross-Cutting Study (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-05-037) - 9/20/2005
American businesses and households depend on the reliable movement of goods. U.S. freight carriers moved over 15 billion tons worth more than $9 trillion in 1998. Trucks carried about 70 percent of the tonnage and nearly 80 percent of the value. In 2020, the volume of freight moved on the U.S. transportation system is expected to increase to 25 billion tons, worth about $30 trillion. Source: Freight Info - Measuring Travel Time in Freight-Significant Corridors, http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/time.htm. (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-05-036) - 8/29/2005
Work zones on freeways are estimated to account for nearly 24 percent of non-recurring delay. A combination of recent studies indicate that approximately 50 percent of all highway congestion is attributed to non-recurring conditions, such as traffic incidents, weather, work zones, and special events. (U.S. Department of Energy, Temporary Losses of Highway Capacity and Impacts on Performance, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL/TM-2002/3). May 2002.) - 7/26/2005
The individual cost of congestion exceeded $900 per driver in 1997, resulting in over $72 billion in lost wages & wasted fuel. - 7/5/2005
In 2004, almost 15 million calls were made to "511" - a call every 2 seconds. On December 23, 2004, Kentucky's "511" service received almost 125,000 calls - 3 calls every 2 seconds. - 5/26/2005
Congestion continues to grow in America’s urban areas. Despite a slow growth in jobs and travel in 2003, congestion caused 3.7 billion hours of travel delay and 2.3 billion gallons of wasted fuel, an increase of 79 million hours and 69 million gallons from 2002 to a total cost of more than $63 billion. - 5/26/2005
Freight is carried via an extensive network of roads, railroad, waterways, and pipelines. Road infrastructure has increased slowly over the past two decades despite a large increase in the volume of traffic. Between 1980 and 2002, route miles of public roads increased by 3 percent compared with a 101 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled. Miles of railroad dropped by more than 20 percent over this same period, while rail shipments (measured in ton-miles) increased by 64 percent. - 4/7/2005
Traffic congestion caused by incidents affects the safety and mobility of all travelers. Major incidents can affect thousands of vehicles in an entire highway corridor or across a major portion of an urban area. Traffic incidents cause secondary incidents that also require response from the same agencies already engaged in the primary incident. Secondary incidents are not just crashes but also include engine stalls, overheating, and running out of fuel. Approximately 20 percent of all incidents are secondary incidents. - 3/4/2005
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is committed to a long-term, comprehensive, four-part approach to mitigating highway congestion. (1) Proper maintenance of the current road and bridge system. (2) New construction of roads, bridges, and nonhighway infrastructure should be considered where appropriate, particularly to relieve bottlenecks and to reduce conflicts between modes. (3) Transportation policies must encourage an appropriate balance between different modes, with highways and is seen as an integral element of the transportation system as a whole. (4) Transportation systems management and operations strategies must be used to maximize the capacity of the infrastructure already in place. - 1/31/2005
21st century technologies, referred to as intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies, have been researched, deployed, and tested to some degree for more than 10 years. These technologies provide information about the transportation system and support development of tools that traffic professionals and travelers never had before. The technologies can be generally grouped into six types: information gathering, information sharing, control, vehicle-based, vehicle to roadside to home base, and payment. The Operations Story provides further information on what the Office of Operations is doing to support 21st century operations using 21st century technologies - http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/aboutus/one_pagers/opstory.htm. - 1/7/2005
It has been estimated that approximately half of the congestion experienced by Americans happens virtually in the same location and at the same time every day, it is "recurring." Traffic demand exceeds the available capacity of the system and there are simply more vehicles than available space on the road. However, the other half of the delay results from unexpected events such as crashes, fog, snow, and work zones. The three main causes of non-recurring congestion are: traffic incidents ranging from flat tires to overturned trucks with hazardous materials (25 percent of congestion), work zones (10 percent of congestion), and adverse weather (15 percent of congestion). - 12/6/2004
Safety belt use in the United States has reached 80% according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), http://www.nhtsa.gov, 2004 survey. - 11/24/2004
Between 1982 and 2002, vehicle miles traveled increased by 79 percent, while highway lane miles only increased 3.0 percent during the same period. (Highway Statistics, Federal Highway Administration) - 11/10/2004
On a typical day in 2002, about 43 million tons of goods valued at about $29 billion moved nearly 12 billion ton-miles on the nation's interconnected transportation network. This represents an increase from about 37 million tons, valued at $20 billion, and traveling about 10 billion ton-miles in 1993. For more information, visit the Bureau of Transportation Statistics Freight Transportation web page at http://www.bts.gov/directory/freight_transportation/. - 10/6/2004
NOAA is predicting 12-15 tropical storms this season, with 6-8 becoming hurricanes, and 2-4 of these becoming major hurricanes (category 3 or higher). This predicted activity reflects a likely continuation of increased hurricane activity that began in 1995. For information on how this can impact the roads and how road weather management strategies can mitigate these impacts visit http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/weather - 8/30/2004
Results from the 2001 National Household Travel Survey, sponsored by BTS and the Federal Highway Administration, show that the daily non-occupational travel of all people in the United States totaled about 4 trillion miles, an average of 14,500 miles per person per year. On a daily basis, the average person traveled 40 miles, 88 percent of it in a personal vehicle. - 6/14/2004
In 2000, over 68,400 kilometers (42,500 miles) of highways in the United States were congested, and of these, over 9,600 kilometers (6,000 miles) were in rural areas. - 4/30/2004
In 2002, there were 1,181 work zone fatalities; this figure represents 2.8% of all roadway fatalities for the year. - 3/12/2004
Almost three out of four business trips are less than 250 miles and only one out of 14 business trips is more than 1,000 miles according to the National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) (findings from the NHTS can be found at the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, www.bts.gov). - 1/6/2004
During the Christmas/New Year's travel period, long-distance travel grows as much as 23 percent compared to the rest of the year, according to a new National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). - 12/23/2003
More than 6 million crashes occur each year on U.S. highways, and about 30 percent of those crashes are at intersections. - 12/16/2003
The 2001 National Household Travel Survey show that daily travel in the United States totaled about 4 trillion miles, an average of 14,500 miles per person annually. On a daily basis, Americans averaged 4 trips per day, totaling on average 40 miles of travel - most of it (35 miles) in a personal vehicle. - 12/1/2003
The National Household Travel Survey found that the Thanksgiving holiday period (Tuesday through Sunday) is among the most heavily traveled for long-distance trips - during this six-day holiday travel period, the number of long distance trips to and from a destination 50 miles or more rises by 54 percent, compared to the average for the remainder of the year. - 11/17/2003
The average daily one-way commute to work in the United States takes just over 26 minutes, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics' Omnibus Household Survey. - 11/3/2003
In 2001, almost 220,000 red light running crashes occurred in intersections. These crashes resulted in as many as 180,000 injuries and almost 900 fatalities and exacted a toll in excess of $12 billion on the U.S. economy. - 10/15/2003
From 1975 through 2001, it is estimated that safety belts saved 147,246 lives, including 12,144 lives saved in 2001. If ALL passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 wore safety belts, 21,311 lives (that is, an additional 9,167) could have been saved in 2001. - 9/26/2003
Congestion results in 5.7 billion person hours of delay annually in the United States. - 7/23/2003
