Office of Operations
21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies
Table of Contents

Model Transportation Systems Management and Operations Deployments in Corridors and Subareas Primer

Appendix: Menu of Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies

This appendix includes a listing of transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategies grouped by Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) operations program area. This list is not exhaustive but includes many of the TSMO strategies most commonly used. Note, there is overlap between some of the strategies.

Some program areas such as work zone management and planned special event management can use many of the TSMO strategies from other program areas for those specific applications. Each program area includes a web link where more information may be found about the strategies. The main website for the operations program areas is https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/program_areas/programareas.htm.

Traffic Incident Management (TIM)
 https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/eto_tim_pse/about/tim.htm

  • TIM teams.
  • TIM training.
  • Post-event after action debriefs.
  • Incident detection, notification, and response.
    • Roadway safety service patrols.
    • Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) integration.
    • Dispatch co-location.
    • Emergency vehicle routing.
    • Pre-planned detour/alternate routes.
    • Incident traffic signal timing plans.
    • Pre-established towing service agreements.
    • Instant or staged towing.
    • Towing recovery incentive program.
    • Shared quick clearance goals.
    • Supporting legislation (e.g., driver removal laws, authority removal laws, move over laws).
Planned Special Events Traffic Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/eto_tim_pse/about/pse.htm
  • Pre- and post-event stakeholder coordination.
  • Temporary traffic control.
  • Network surveillance.
  • Changeable lane assignment or contraflow lanes.
  • Reversible lanes.
  • Enhanced traffic signal operations for special events.
  • Transit management.
  • Parking management.

Work Zone Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/index.asp

  • Maintenance and construction activity coordination.
  • Queue length detection.
  • Mobile surveillance.
  • Temporary ramp metering.
  • Portable intelligent transportation system (ITS) technology for work zones.
  • Dynamic speed control.
  • Dynamic lane merge.
  • Work zone ITS for traveler information.
  • Work zone TIM.
  • Active transportation and demand management (ATDM) for work zones.
  • Dynamic warning systems (e.g., queues, congestion, over-dimension vehicles, work space intrusions).
Road Weather Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/weather/index.asp
  • Road weather information systems.
  • Winter roadway operations.
  • Weather warning systems.
Active Transportation and Demand Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/atdm/index.htm
  • Active demand management (ADM).
    • Dynamic ridesharing.
    • On-demand transit.
    • Dynamic transit fare reduction.
    • Dynamic pricing.
    • Dynamic route choice.
    • Dynamic truck restrictions.
    • Predictive traveler information.
  • Active traffic management (ATM).
    • Dynamic lane use control.
    • Dynamic lane reversal.
    • Dynamic merge control.
    • Temporary shoulder running.
    • Dynamic speed limits.
    • Dynamic warning (e.g., queue, road weather conditions).
    • Adaptive ramp metering.
  • Active parking management (APM).
  • Dynamically priced parking.
  • Dynamic parking reservations.
  • Dynamic parking wayfinding.
  • Dynamic parking capacity.
  • Dynamic overflow transit parking.

Arterial Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/arterial_mgmt/index.htm

  • Traffic management center.
  • Traffic network surveillance.
  • Enhanced traffic signal operations (e.g., re-timing/optimization, adaptive detection, better detection).
  • Emergency vehicle preemption.
  • Transit traffic signal priority.
  • Queue jump lanes at signalized intersections.
  • Truck traffic signal priority.
  • Bicycle and pedestrian operations and safety (e.g., crossing enhancements, bicycle detection, signal timing for bicycles and pedestrians).
  • Access management.
  • Complete streets.
  • Improved traffic control schemes.
  • Added capacity for critical movements.
  • Travel speed reduction.
  • Automated enforcement.
  • Operations asset management.

Congestion Pricing
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/congestionpricing/index.htm

  • Congestion pricing (e.g., variable pricing by lane, segment, time of day, or day of week).
  • Managed lanes (e.g., high occupancy vehicle lanes, high occupancy toll lanes).

Corridor Traffic Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/program_areas/corridor_traffic_mgmt.htm

  • Traffic management center.
  • Traffic network surveillance.
  • Safety applications (e.g., warnings about queues, geometry (such as curves or over height/over width), intersections, animals crossing).
  • Access management.
  • Bottleneck removal.
  • High performance transit.

Integrated Corridor Management
https://www.its.dot.gov/research_archives/icms/index.htm.

Freeway Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freewaymgmt/index.htm
  • Traffic management center.
  • Traffic network surveillance.
  • Ramp metering.
  • Ramp closures.
  • Access management.
  • Automated enforcement.
Travel Demand Management
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tdm/index.htm
  • Traveler information marketing campaigns.
  • Route planning tools.
  • Shared mobility (transportation services that are shared among users such as public transit, ridesharing, carsharing, ridesourcing, or bikesharing).
  • Employer trip reduction programs and commuter incentives (e.g., subsidies for transit passes, carpool, vanpool).
  • Gamification.
  • Rideshare/ride-matching support.
  • Telecommuting.
  • Congestion pricing.
  • Corridor investments to support mode transfers or trip ends.
  • Automobile-free or access-restricted zones.
  • School transportation demand management (e.g., staggered start/end times, bus boundaries, walking school buses, school pool).
  • Mass communication.
  • Individualized marketing.

Real-Time Traveler Information
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/travelinfo/index.htm

  • Local/regional multimodal traveler information.
  • Roadside traveler information dissemination (e.g., dynamic message signs, highway advisory radio).
  • Predictive traveler information.
  • Real-time transit arrival information.
  • Real-time parking availability information.
  • Multimodal trip planning and routing systems.
  • Smartphone applications.
  • Standardized data format for third- party data providers. Freight Technology and Operations https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/technology/ index.htm
  • Roadside truck electronic screening/ clearance.
  • Truck traffic signal priority.
  • Freight Advanced Traveler Information System (FRATIS).
  • Freight loading zone policies (e.g., delivery times, designated zones, electronic parking payment systems).

Emergency Transportation Operations
https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/eto_tim_pse/index.htm

  • Emergency operations center (EOC) and transportation management center integration.
  • Emergency vehicle preemption.
  • Roadway closure management plan.
Public Transportation Management
  • Advanced transit operations management.
  • Transit signal priority.
  • Queue jump lanes at signalized intersections.
  • Electronic fare collection and integration.
  • Transit surveillance and security.
  • Multimodal travel connections.

Parking Management

  • Shared-use parking.
  • Incentives to use under-utilized parking facilities.
  • Electronic payment systems.
Office of Operations