Strengthening Linkages between Transportation Demand Management and Traffic Management

Context 4. Managing System Efficiency Using Active Demand Management and Active Traffic Management

When system efficiency improvements are addressed from the traffic management side (reducing congestion), often the approach may be to look at where there is a lot of traffic and congestion and identify the strategies that could eliminate the congestion. Traffic managers may look at one particular roadway and think about how to eliminate congestion on that one roadway using strategies such as road widening, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, traffic signal coordination, ramp metering, or transit signal priority. They may use variable message signs to post real-time travel times or provide detour options to guide travelers to travel at a different time or to take a different road (figure 15). But oftentimes the congestion still persists.

The two case studies under this context discuss how transportation professionals are looking at the transportation system as a whole—all modes, information collection, dissemination. The efforts are to ultimately help system travelers make the best decision for their commute, even if the commute includes disruptions. The Commuter Connections commuter services program at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is an example of a service that helps commuters reduce their travel during peak-period congestion in the Washington metropolitan region by providing notifications about congestion on roadways.⁽³⁷⁾ Managing system efficiency through an integrated TDM and traffic management approach is still a relatively new tactic, and as seen through these case studies, the industry is just starting to explore this realm.

Case 8. New York State Department of Transportation's Active Transportation and Demand Management Program

Integrating TDM into traditionally traffic-focused planning and systems by funding efforts through an active transportation and demand management (ATDM) program

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has implemented a traditional TDM program in the New York State downstate regions (Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New York City) for over two decades. In 2015, NYSDOT decided to take its TDM program where no other program had gone and fully integrate TDM and active demand management into one program—an ATDM program—and expand it statewide. Under the ATDM program, NYSDOT looks at opportunities to fund projects that have a traffic management aspect but would simultaneously benefit from integration with TDM strategies, leveraging available funding for traffic projects in collaboration with the TDM program. This evolved program has tackled issues not typically addressed within a traditional TDM program, such as an integrated corridor management (ICM) concept of operations (ConOps) and Connected Corridors.

While ICM and Connected Corridors efforts may be led by the traffic management and operations staff and historically thought of as traffic management programs, having the projects funded out of the ATDM program meant that TDM was fully integrated into the processes and that TDM strategies were considered alongside traffic management strategies in all plans. During the planning discussions, workshops, and the drafting of the various documents, both traffic operations and TDM operations were discussed (figure 16).

The outcome of this involvement of both TDM and traffic management throughout the planning process has been planning documents that address the issues from both angles and provide a combination of strategies to address issues such as travel reliability, real-time travel data, and better collaboration among different agencies.

For example, the ICM ConOps calls for setting up an ICM-495 Partnership of various agencies including departments of transportation, transit agencies, metropolitan planning organizations, emergency responders, and infrastructure maintainers. The ICM user needs include demand management aspects, not just supply-side needs. The ICM strategies included in the ConOps include various traffic management and TDM strategies to better improve system operations in the I-495 corridor. Since these approaches and strategies are listed in the ConOps, they will be at the forefront of focus when ICM is implemented. But throughout the development of the ConOps, the focus was not on developing a system that would reduce congestion; instead, the focus was on a system that would find ways to provide travelers and traffic managers real-time information and alternative options while looking at an entire corridor as a whole.

For the Connected Corridors project, which is still ongoing, potential strategies have been developed for the two corridors being studied (Bruckner Expressway and Gowanus Expressway). The two corridors are highly constrained and always congested, but there are opportunities to better leverage capacity on arterials, on shoulders, and on transit to have the systems within the corridors work better together. The strategies being recommended can be grouped into categories such as active traffic management (ATM), HOV management, demand management, and non-intelligent transportation system (ITS) traffic engineering solutions. For example, one of the strategies is to implement HOV lane monitoring so that buses and carpoolers can be informed of the travel time status on an HOV lane. Another strategy being considered is to implement cross-over gates to allow vehicles in HOV lanes to enter the general lane in the event an incident is blocking the HOV lane. Finding creative ways to obtain information about these corridors or monitor arterial performance (not just freeway performance) is another key aspect of the Connected Corridors project. In these Connected Corridors, the agencies involved recognize that congestion on these key roadways will occur, but if they can address some of the reasons that congestion occurs, find ways to spread the congestion to arterials, and make sure the right agencies have the information to share with travelers, then travelers can find a more reliable travel experience.

NYSDOT continues to look for other opportunities to provide linkages between traditionally traffic-focused efforts with TDM through its ATDM program. NYSDOT is exploring deployment of an incident information management system to provide real-time and continued situational awareness, and making sure TDM professionals benefit from this information in day-to-day operations, such as helping a traveler navigate the transportation system in response to an event disrupting normal travel patterns. NYSDOT is also exploring how to tie in TDM to a statewide transportation system management and operations engine that provides consistent reporting of road conditions to improve traveler information and traffic management needs. This engine would enable the development of a system to provide consistent reporting of road conditions (for work zones, road weather, and incidents) by transportation management center operators and field personnel across the State. This proposed system would support and interface with necessary NYSDOT and non-NYSDOT services to support both traveler information and traffic management needs.

Part of the Trip Chain Addressed

For this case study, the interesting element is the pursuit of traditionally traffic-management-focused projects through an ATDM program—not the specific strategies themselves. Through this approach, the TDM program had an equal voice at the table and was able to ensure that TDM-focused strategies were included alongside the traffic management strategies—and even identified opportunities in the TDM program. Some strategies mentioned included:

• Improving route diversions for buses to improve travel reliability for travelers, especially transit riders.

• Incorporating the impact of route diversions for buses' real-time status.

• Developing a corridor-focused employer-based telework program.

• Implementing HOV lane monitoring to improve travel time status and interest in using a reliable HOV lane.

Success Supportive of the Integration of Transportation Demand Management and Traffic Management

The major success was having representation of TDM at the table in processes that are heavily traffic management focused, when TDM typically would have been an afterthought or not included at all. NYSDOT's TDM program is mentioned in all planning documents, and the TDM program's elements are included as strategies to implement alongside the traffic management strategies.

Case 9. Houston's ConnectSmart Program

ConnectSmart: making mobility a service and a tool for area travelers

The Houston metropolitan area is a large, highly populated metro area with several overlapping jurisdictions and competing travel modes, although SOV travel still dominates. In October 2016, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Houston District was awarded an $8.9 million Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the implementation of the ConnectSmart program. ConnectSmart centers on creating an integrated platform with a mobile app component that can help reduce congestion and encouraging travelers to adopt new travel behavior. The mobile app, built off a developer's existing app, allows users to book trips on as many different modes and services as possible, and plan their trips with integrated payment and routing. Additionally, the platform will allow agencies to collect system data and provide information about modes, routes, or travel times. This critical ability for the program to serve as a tool for government to disseminate information, and as a tool to collect data, has earned it the moniker mobility as a service and a tool.

The project is still under development but aims to integrate transportation management systems across modes to benefit drivers, carpoolers, transit riders, and bicyclists by providing improved real-time information on all modes. The project's mobile app will cover the entire eight-county region with two pilot areas for ancillary services.

Prior to the development of the integrated app, TxDOT has been actively monitoring traffic flows and other system data to cultivate a baseline of information, which TxDOT can then compare to results after project implementation.

The ConnectSmart Program requires the collaboration of many agencies to provide the necessary data, analyze it, and use it appropriately in various traffic management and TDM efforts.

Once the program gets under way, TxDOT will leverage connections with university partners to analyze program data. While still yet to be determined, several memoranda of understanding will be needed between various stakeholders, particularly from TxDOT and the Houston-Galveston Area Council to various transit agencies and private entities, in transferring and storing data to be sent to and from the app. As the program emerges, and also as it evolves to include new features, outreach and communications staff at various agencies will need to be routinely involved.