Planning for Transportation Systems Management and Operations within Subareas – A Desk Reference

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF DESK REFERENCE

Over the past decade, transportation agencies have increasingly integrated transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) in planning at the statewide and metropolitan levels. Using an objectives-driven, performance-based approach, State departments of transportation (DOTs) and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) around the country are working with local jurisdictions, transit agencies, law enforcement, toll authorities, and other partners to manage traffic congestion, improve system reliability, increase safety, and enhance multi-modal options using operations solutions. Rather than relying solely on new road, parking, and transit capacity, this approach recognizes that TSMO strategies (e.g,. enhanced incident management, traffic signal coordination, transit signal priority (TSP), and traveler information) can often be low in cost, highly effective, and implemented in concert with infrastructure to enhance transportation system performance.

More recently, transportation and planning agencies are increasingly witnessing the presence of connected-vehicle and smart-city technologies, which pose new challenges to management and operations but also offer unique opportunities. Again using an objectives-driven, performance- based approach, transportation agencies and MPOs are beginning to work with automobile manufacturers, telecommunications providers, software and sharing-economy service providers, and other private-sector partners to collect, integrate, and synthesize rich vehicle and device-derived data to manage subarea mobility and livability goals.

Planning for operations involves identifying operations objectives and performance measures, which guide the identification, prioritization, and selection of investments, programs, and strategies. The result is implementation of programs, projects, and collaborative efforts to better manage and operate transportation systems and services to preserve capacity and improve the security, safety, and reliability of the transportation system. Today, many State DOTs and MPOs have adopted policies to improve transportation operations by managing travel demand and applying transportation management techniques before they take the steps toward considering additional capacity.

While many statewide and regional policies and programs are advancing implementation of effective TSMO strategies, more benefits will occur when TSMO is considered and applied strategically at a smaller scale where many critical implementation decisions are made. Transportation planning within subareas presents new opportunities for agencies to plan for operations both at a more refined geographic scale and at a level where specific, actionable plans can be developed. The availability of connected- vehicle and smart-city technologies expands subarea transportation planning opportunities even further.

Increasingly, transportation agencies recognize the value of the subarea approach instead of looking at individual transportation projects on a piecemeal or single-facility basis. A subarea approach takes a broader view of the interconnected factors that influence travel to, from, and within a subarea and enables more creative and collaborative approaches to addressing subarea transportation problems.

Traditional transportation planning focuses on improving the performance of transportation facilities. Performance metrics can include speed, throughput, lane capacity, safety, etc. Transportation planners and operators view transportation infrastructure as an interconnected network of facilities and services. Subarea planning-in a transportation context-also focuses on improving performance, but of a specific place. Planners and operators view the subarea as an interconnected but geographically limited and bounded amalgam of facilities and services. Performance metrics are more holistic in subareas and range from objective "hard" measures such as the volume, speed, and safety of goods and people moving in a subarea to the broader measures of performance such as congestion, emissions, energy consumption, and land. Qualitative or "soft" performance measures are more subjective and include such elements as "mobility" and "livability," which are impacted by innumerable factors beyond the physical; e.g., zoning, parking, delivery, and shared-service policies.

Managing mobility in a subarea requires understanding, measuring, and leveraging many factors and is but one aspect of subarea planning, which is an approach used today by most government planning agencies across the United States to improve mobility.¹ The advent of connected-vehicle and smart-city technologies, and their associated data, has great potential to improve the ability of planning agencies to better manage subareas. This desk reference describes an approach for TSMO planning within a subarea context that incorporates the metropolitan planning concept of looking beyond a single factor (i.e., a transportation facility or particular land use, parking, or other policy) to focus more holistically on the performance of the subarea's transportation system from a user's perspective.

Transportation agencies and stakeholders, including planners, often begin subarea studies from an investments perspective to address traffic level-of-service (LOS) and other infrastructure related issues. This approach results in proposals for expensive capital investments, which often cost more than the available resources can support. Moreover, while TSMO may be a priority from a statewide or regional perspective, TSMO strategies often are applied at a broad scale (i.e., via a statewide incident management program, regional ridesharing program, or traveler information systems) without connecting these programs to a specific subarea's needs or targeting them to a subarea's unique challenges and conditions.

This desk reference equips subarea planning and operations professionals with the knowledge and tools necessary to effectively plan for and implement TSMO in a subarea context. Its purpose is to support transportation planners and operations staff in planning for and applying TSMO activities within subareas to achieve more reliable, efficient, and livable outcomes from their existing and planned transportation infrastructure. Utilizing a planning-for-operations approach at a subarea level can help operators focus on issues (e.g., mobility, livability, reliability, and safety) from a more holistic perspective and reveal cost-effective demand management and operations solutions that may not otherwise have been fully considered.

This desk reference describes planning for TSMO within subareas so that readers can tailor and apply this approach in a variety of subarea contexts. This desk reference is founded upon three themes for success that encompass all TSMO planning efforts:

• Using an objectives-driven, performance-based approach.
• Collaborating across agencies, jurisdictions, and modes.
• Linking to overarching planning processes at the metropolitan or statewide level.

This desk reference connects readers to other tools and resources developed by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and partners to support a more in-depth understanding of several topics introduced in this document. It draws upon concepts, such as integrated corridor management (ICM), active transportation demand management (ATDM), and principles of metropolitan planning, that are increasingly focusing attention on collaboration across multi modal system operators and planners to address subarea conditions. Quick reference sheets provide examples of subarea operations objectives, performance measures, and management and operations strategies that can be applied as readers move forward in applying the components of planning for and implementing TSMO within subareas.

This desk reference is a companion to the FHWA document, Planning for Transportation Systems Management and Operations within Corridors Desk Reference, which is a resource that addresses the specific needs of organizations planning for TSMO in corridors.²

WHO SHOULD USE THIS DESK REFERENCE?

This desk reference is intended for the transportation planning or operations professional looking to address specific questions on planning for TSMO within subareas as well as the professional who wants to gain a comprehensive understanding of how to successfully improve travel and goods movement within a subarea. This desk reference brings together planning and operations approaches, practices, and lessons learned that have been developed over the past 10 years and provides consolidated assistance on planning for TSMO within subareas. Several sections serve as launching points to related FHWA documents that provide more in-depth information and tools.

A GUIDE TO NAVIGATING THIS DESK REFERENCE

The desk reference is organized into six chapters:

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS WITHIN SUBAREAS

What is Transportation Systems Management and Operations?

Transportation systems management and operations, or TSMO, encompasses a broad set of strategies that aim to optimize the safe, efficient, and reliable use of existing and planned transportation infrastructure for all modes and geographical areas, including subareas. TSMO is undertaken from a systems perspective, which means that these strategies are coordinated with related strategies and across multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and modes. TSMO strategies range from regional traffic signal systems management to shared-use mobility initiatives (see Table 1 on page 9 for an expanded list of strategies). TSMO includes efforts to operate the multi-modal transportation system and activities to manage travel demand.

TSMO proactively addresses a variety of transportation system user needs by:

• Influencing travel demand in terms of location, time, and intensity of demand.
• Effectively managing the traffic or transit crowding that results.
• Anticipating and responding to planned and unplanned events (e.g., traffic incidents, work zones, inclement weather, and special events).
• Providing travelers with high-quality traffic and weather information.
• Ensuring that the unique needs of the freight community are considered and included in all of the above.¹⁷

TSMO strategies are supported by both institutional and technology-based activities. For example, TSMO is enabled by memoranda of agreement among agencies, operational policies and procedures, and shared resources (e.g., interoperable communications systems, centralized traffic signal operations, and closed circuit television video sharing).

What are the Benefits of Transportation Systems Management and Operations?¹⁸

TSMO strategies have allowed transportation agencies to address transportation issues in the near- term, with lower-cost solutions. TSMO strategies deliver a variety of benefits and, particularly for subareas, are evaluated based on broader transportation objectives. These include:

• Safer travel: For example, freeway ramp metering has been demonstrated to reduce crashes by 15 to 50 percent.
• More free time: Among other time-saving TSMO strategies, traffic signal retiming decreases delay on roads by 13 to 94 percent, and TSP reduces transit delay by 30 to 40 percent.
• Improved reliability: Strategies that reduce unexpected delays (e.g., incident management, road weather management, and work zone management) enable the public and freight shippers to reduce unexpected delays. TSP improves transit on-time performance.
• Less wasted fuel: Traffic incident management (TIM) programs help to clear incidents safely and quickly. They reduce time lost and fuel wasted in traffic backups. For example, Georgia's TIM program (NaviGAtor) reduced annual fuel consumption by 6.83 million gallons per year. National studies have shown that integrating traveler information with traffic and incident management systems could improve fuel economy by about 1.5 percent.
• Cleaner air: TSMO strategies result in cleaner air by encouraging alternative modes of transportation (e.g., transit, ridesharing, biking, walking, and telecommuting) and reducing excess idling due to congested bottlenecks. Electronic toll collection reduced harmful emissions at Baltimore, Maryland, toll plazas by 16 to 63 percent.
• Improved livability: TSMO strategies for subareas can specifically focus on many non facility/non-vehicle-type goals (e.g., transit accessibility, bicycle and pedestrian mode share, carbon intensity, transportation affordability, land consumption, bicycle and pedestrian safety, and LOS).

Sample of Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies Relevant to Subareas

Many TSMO strategies are applicable and effective at the subarea level. Table 1 lists TSMO strategies that agencies can consider when looking to improve the operation of their subareas.

Table 1. Sample of transportation systems management and operations strategies relevant to subareas.

TSMO Strategies	Supporting Activities
Traffic Management and Operations	Traffic surveillance. Traffic signal control: Enhanced multimodal traffic signal operations. Synchronized traffic signals. Emergency vehicle preemption. Transit signal priority. Truck signal priority. Warning systems (queue, curve, intersection, size, and speed). Roadside truck electronic screening/clearance programs. Bicycle and pedestrian crossing enhancements (e.g., pedestrian count-down signals and detection of bicycles at demand-actuated traffic signals). Parking management. Special event management. Use of connected vehicles for management.
Parking Management	Variably priced parking (e.g., by time of day; dynamic based on demand). Real-time parking information systems. Parking reservation. Overflow transit parking. Delivery truck parking.
Traveler Information	Local/regional multi-modal traveler information. Roadside traveler information dissemination. Predictive traveler information. Real-time transit arrival information. Parking availability information. Trip planning and routing systems.
Road Weather Operations	Road weather information systems. Winter roadway operations.
Maintenance and Construction Management	Maintenance and construction activity coordination. Work zone management.
Incident and Emergency Management	Traffic incident management. Emergency management. Computer-aided dispatch integration. Emergency vehicle routing.
Public Transportation Management	Advanced transit operations management. Electronic fare collection and integration. Transit surveillance and security. Multimodal travel connections.
Transportation Demand Management	Traveler information marketing campaigns. Route planning tools. Employer programs and commuter incentives. Rideshare and bikeshare support. Telecommuting. Congestion pricing. Subarea investments to support mode transfers or trip ends.
Shared Use Mobility/ Mobility on Demand	Bicycle sharing. Carsharing. Dynamic ridesharing. Multimodal hubs.
Complementary Strategies that Support TSMO	Bottleneck removal. Access management. High performance transit.

Transportation Systems Management and Operations within Subareas: Understanding the Subarea Contexts¹⁹

When developing strategies for TSMO within subareas, it is critical to understand the context of the subarea, including:

• Any specific activity centers in the subarea, such as a university of corporate campus, a public or entertainment venue, etc.
• Surrounding land uses and development patterns.
• Available travel options, such as:
  • Highways.
  • Road networks.
  • Transit.
  • Non-motorized options.
• Who the system users are, such as:
  • Freight.
  • Commuters.
  • Interstate, intrastate, and local travelers.
• Users' needs and priorities.

A subarea generally includes multiple modes of travel, mixed land uses, arterials, streets and substreets, transit, paratransit and ride-share services, bicycle and pedestrian connections, park-and-ride lots, and other rideshare services.

Different types of subareas are found in urban, suburban, and rural contexts. Some subarea plans include multiple localized contexts (e.g., urban center, transit station area, and lower- density residential areas). For instance, a subarea plan could be conducted on a citywide or countywide scale, or at the level of some other subunit of a metropolitan region, and would include a diverse array of contexts. To optimize performance of the transportation system within a subarea and meet its users' needs, TSMO should reflect the unique form, use, and needs of the subarea.

Some typical types of contexts are listed below:

• An urban center. An urban center, which may be a downtown, is generally characterized as a dense area with high levels of activity and where complex, multi-modal transportation systems offer options for driving, taking transit, walking, and biking. Subarea planning in urban centers may focus on the broader objective of area mobility. TSMO strategies for an urban center may focus on multi-modal system performance and managing travel demand and may include a wide array of strategies, including parking management, TSP, dynamic ridesharing, bikesharing, pedestrian count-down signals, real-time multi-modal traveler information, and traffic signal coordination.
• A transit station area. A transit station area provides a unique context, with the focal point typically being a transit rail station, major bus transfer facility, or intermodal facility. Often, transit station area plans focus on transit-oriented development as well as circulation of buses, general traffic, and pedestrians and bicycles within the vicinity of the station.
• A suburban activity center or lower density mixed-use and residential area. Suburban communities are less dense than a downtown core, and a subarea plan addressing such an area will often address neighborhood and environmental preservation, recreational facilities, and mobility, including traffic, transit, and bicycle and pedestrian access. For these subareas, TSMO strategies may focus on managing traffic and incidents to provide predictable travel times to and from the subarea, shifting demand to transit and ridesharing, and balancing travel loads across the network. Examples of TSMO investments may include dynamic high- occupancy vehicle (HOV) or managed lanes, parking management systems, and dynamic merge or junction control.
• Rural areas. In rural areas, there is a reduced amount of development, which is often dispersed, and travel options are often limited. While congestion is generally a minor concern, traffic safety and weather conditions (e.g., snow, ice, rain, and fog) are often significant concerns. Subareas in rural areas typically experience seasonal, off-peak congestion due to tourism or events (e.g., festivals). In addition, in some small towns, stretches of State highways serve as main streets and may attract pedestrian and bicycle use. Given the infrequent congestion on rural roads, the more aggressive TSMO strategies used in urban and suburban subareas may not warrant deployment. TSMO strategies for rural subareas require a flexible approach tailored to the specific characteristics of the subarea and may include strategies such as road weather management and dynamic routing.

These are just a few examples of ways in which subarea contexts can differ. It is also important to consider that the context may change throughout a subarea, and the different segments may warrant different TSMO strategies.

While at a smaller scale than a region, a subarea will typically have multiple agencies responsible for different components of transportation system operations, including traffic signals, transit services, and traveler information systems, as well as an array of partners and stakeholders involved in event management, parking management, law enforcement, and other functions that affect mobility, safety, and other aspects of transportation system performance. Consequently, involving a wide range of agencies with responsibilities for mobility in a subarea is critical to taking a successful approach to TSMO.

Who Performs Transportation Systems Management and Operations within Subareas?

The lead agencies in managing and operating the transportation system components in subareas are typically the owners or operators of the facilities (i.e., State and local DOTs, roadway authorities, parking authorities, transit agencies, taxi authorities, and shared-use service providers), but many other partners are involved in and affect transportation system operations within local areas, and these relationships are critical for optimum subarea management.

For example, effective TIM involves coordination among several different groups, including responders from a variety of disciplines (e.g., law enforcement, fire and rescue, parking, towing, and recovery agencies), as well as the DOT or transportation management center (TMC).

Implementation of TSP requires coordination among transit agencies that operate services and DOTs that are responsible for arterial and city roadway operations. Work zone management involves coordinating alternate routes among agencies and their contractors involved in construction and infrastructure renewal, other transportation agencies and services that use a facility or connect to a facility, as well as TMC and public relations staff who provide information to the public. Transportation demand management (TDM) programs often work directly with employers to promote travel options to their employees and may include efforts to support customized travel planning in communities, support for school-based programs to support bicycling and walking, and other options.

At a subarea level, local governments play a key part in transportation system operations through their roles in traffic signal operations, parking management and enforcement, and maintenance. However, it is important to recognize the role of State DOTs, regional planning agencies, and transit agencies in TSMO programs that will affect subareas. For example, the Denver Regional Council of Governments provides engineering support to cities and counties in the region for signal retiming. The National Capital Region's Transportation Planning Board manages the Washington region's Commuter Connections program, which provides regional marketing and services (e.g., guaranteed ride home program and ridematching); these services support and complement local programs operated by counties, which work directly with employers to support telecommuting, ridesharing, transit, walking, biking, and other options.²¹

Over the past decade, and more recently over the last few years with the advent of connected vehicle and smart city technologies, TSMO has benefited from rapidly advancing technology (e.g., better data and data analytics). These have facilitated an increased emphasis on cost effective transportation solutions and improvements in mobility management and livability. TSMO now appears to be headed into an era where State DOTs and regional planning agencies are elevating TSMO as a top priority and systematically increasing their operational capabilities. MPOs are consistently planning and programming for TSMO and spearheading regional collaboration for TSMO. Local governments, with responsibility for operating traffic signals, transit services, road maintenance, and snow removal; local police forces; and other services play an increasingly important role as TSMO strategies become part of subarea plans. Again, the significant advances in vehicle and infrastructure technology and communication systems (e.g., connected vehicles and smart city systems) promises to shift the paradigm of how infrastructure, people, vehicles, and operators interact to change the way safe, efficient, and reliable transportation and mobility in subareas is provided.

A wide range of transportation-related agencies often play a role in how transportation is managed and how it operates in subareas, including:

• Local transportation agencies, which are responsible for arterial traffic signals, pedestrian signals, and crosswalks as well as snow removal and winter weather operations.
• Transit agencies-regional and/or local-operate public transportation services within the subarea, which may include bus services, commuter rail, or other rail transit services.
• State DOTs typically operate freeway management systems, 511 traveler information, and park-and-ride lots and often are responsible for snow removal on major freeways or other roadways within the subarea.
• Parking authorities that are responsible for building, managing, and operating parking facilities; regulating private parking facilities and street parking; and enforcing parking regulations in support of various transportation management objectives.
• MPOs may operate regional rideshare or TDM programs and could initiate targeted efforts to communities and businesses in the subarea.
• Local transportation management associations or organizations serve businesses or communities within the subarea.
• Toll authorities.
• Port authorities.

Typically, there are many different partners that should help to inform or play a role in transportation system operations, such as:

• Law enforcement, responsible for incident management and parking enforcement.
• Fire and rescue.
• Local governments, responsible for street and off-street parking policies, zoning, and access management.
• Local businesses and venues that serve as activity centers.
• Ports, freight distribution centers, and other goods management facilities.
• Neighborhood associations and other community groups.

TSMO strategies, whether or not they are implemented and operated by a single entity or agency, involve building consensus around needs, priorities, performance measures, resources, and responsibilities. As a result, the subarea planning or study process should recognize the importance of key stakeholders in the subarea who will be affected by—and whose support is needed to identify and advance—appropriate TSMO strategies in the subarea, including non traditional groups or entities (e.g., private stakeholders). Local businesses, neighborhood associations, bicycle/pedestrian advocates, and others will likely be engaged in the decision-making process. In the context of connected vehicles and smart cities, automobile makers, cellular carriers, automobile insurers, and shared-mobility service providers may need to become partners. And all will need to be informed of alternatives, benefits, and potential or perceived negative effects of TSMO strategies under consideration. Rather than optimizing individual services or facilities, effective subarea transportation operations involves optimizing transportation options from a holistic, overall system perspective.