Applying Transportation Systems Management and Operations to Rural Areas

Chapter 2. Business Case for TSMO in Rural Areas

What is TSMO?

TSMO is a broad set of strategies that aims to optimize the safe, efficient, and reliable use of existing transportation infrastructure for all modes and areas. The objectives of TSMO strategies are to increase safety and reliability and reduce congestion by improving the day-to-day operations of existing roads.

TMSO strategies are initiated from a systemwide perspective that often spans multiple jurisdictions, agencies, and transportation modes. TSMO institutional strategies and TSMO technology-based strategies proactively address road user needs and actively manage the transportation system. These strategies can involve influencing travel demand, managing traffic congestion, responding to planned and unplanned events, and providing traveler information.

Traditional TSMO strategies include work zone management, road weather management, special event management, traveler information systems, and traffic incident management (TIM). Many of these strategies are enabled or supported by intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Newer strategies, including integrated corridor management and active traffic management, combine technologies such as traffic signal coordination, driverless vehicles, ITS, and more sophisticated data processing and analytics.

A TSMO plan can integrate all these strategies under one program to optimize the safety, efficiency, and reliability of the existing transportation system through low-cost and high-impact solutions. A TSMO plan can enhance the return on existing investments by optimizing the use of resources, personnel, equipment, and assets.

A common element of many TSMO strategies is ITS. Devices such as vehicle detectors and portable message signs, as seen in figure 1, benefit transportation system users and operators by monitoring for situational awareness, data analysis, and real-time reporting to travelers. Conducting analysis during construction or in work zones is important because of the dynamic nature of traffic patterns. ITS can also eliminate the need for certain restrictions (e.g., limited lane closure hours) and resource-intensive activities (e.g., flaggers and on-site data collection).

What are the Benefits of TSMO in Rural Areas?

Rural areas usually have more limited resources and have larger geographical coverage than urban areas. TSMO strategies can help agencies that have limited funding to optimize the multimodal transportation system by better understanding the causes of congestion and leveraging technology to address the causes, as exemplified below, to meet changing customer needs and expectations:

• Rural areas often experience short-term or seasonal peak travel (e.g., recreation), which does not warrant high-investment capacity-increase projects. TSMO strategies can enable a balance of resource supply and demand with relatively low-cost solutions. For example, dynamic demand management can improve system performance at a fraction of the cost of adding new capacity.
• While only 19 percent of individuals in the United States live in rural areas, 68 percent of our Nation's total lane miles are located in rural areas.⁷ Rural areas, however, tend to have fewer available detour routes, which causes challenges during incidents, road weather events, or work zones; well-planned TSMO strategies can be especially beneficial in these situations.
• Crashes occurring in rural areas tend to be more severe due to higher travel speeds; TSMO strategies such as dynamic message signs (DMSs) or speed warning signs can remind drivers to maintain a safe speed and alert them to slowed or stopped traffic ahead.
• While only 19 percent of the United States population lives in rural areas, 45 percent of all highway fatalities occur on rural roadways. The fatality rate on rural roads is also two times higher than on urban roads.⁸
• In rural areas, a higher percentage of traffic is often for freight and tourism, the disruptions of which can have notable economic impacts. A TIM program can help clear roadways of incidents and reduce these impacts.

Challenges of Implementing TSMO Programs in Rural Areas

Rural areas pose challenges for implementing TSMO strategies and programs because of individual geographic characteristics, such as:

• Large geographic coverage area.
• Fewer resources compared to urban areas (e.g., funding and staff).
• Smaller number of staff responsible for multiple duties who may have less expertise (e.g., running more complicated technology).
• Underserved rural areas due to historic underinvestment.
• Difficulty hiring and retaining skilled maintenance technicians for rural technologies.
• Difficulty accessing power and communications.
• Cost to develop power and communications infrastructure.
• Fewer, if any, alternate route options.
• Vandalism and theft of rural technologies and materials (e.g., copper theft).
• Public transit or alternative transportation options—when they do exist—typically offer less-frequent service with limited service areas.

Rural road weather management issues:

• Collecting and sharing road conditions and closure information in rural areas that lack quality sensors or data.
• Crashing due to high speeds and winter weather, compounded by a lack of illumination at rural curves and intersections.
• Blocking and spilling into traffic lanes of vehicles at chain-up areas.
• Informing and managing evacuating traffic from natural disasters such as hurricanes, forest fires, and flooding.
• Managing snowplow operations over a large geographic area.

Rural traffic incident management issues:

• It is difficult to gauge the proper incident response level needed given reduced monitoring, equipment, and communications.
• Transportation agencies are typically supporting law enforcement/emergency responders rather than providing initial incident response.
• Maintenance crews often lead incident response in rural areas and are called off projects to respond to incidents, thus disrupting workflow.
• Dedicated incident response requires ongoing commitment to funding, which has traditionally been less available in rural areas.
• There is limited understanding of whether a dedicated incident response program in rural areas is cost-effective.
• Greater spacing of interchanges on rural interstates makes access to incidents more difficult.
• There is roughly a 50 percent longer emergency response times in rural areas.⁹

Rural work zone management issues:

• Multiple active work zones in a single corridor can limit movement of oversize vehicles and create long detours
• High speeds and limited alternate routes in rural areas require more advance notification
• Unexpected queues in areas that are usually uncongested can lead to severe crashes and delays
• Inattention on long rural work zones, or long stretches leading up to work zones, causing increased crashes
• Single-lane closures on two-lane rural highways require more traffic control, such as pilot vehicles or temporary traffic signals

Rural seasonal demand management:

• Notable increase in traffic demands resulting in congestions and travel delays (e.g., beaches in the summer or mountains during snowstorms)
• Potential weather conditions that only allow roadwork during peak tourism season

Rural special event issues:

• May not have permanent traffic management/traveler information infrastructure
• Fewer lanes, parking, and traffic control devices available to manage event traffic
• Collaboration with law enforcement, event managers, and traffic and public transportation agencies is needed to plan and coordinate event management, but personnel available in rural areas is limited
• Difficult to anticipate demand and projected congestion conditions and determine appropriate event management strategies because all events are unique; this is true in urban areas as well, but in rural areas events are usually less frequent (many are once per year), thus providing fewer opportunities to learn what works best

Table 1 summarizes common TSMO strategies found in the literature review. While use of these strategies is not unique to rural areas, they have proven to be beneficial in improving safety and mobility in rural areas. The strategies are grouped by focus areas as well as some strategies that can be applied to all focus areas. More detailed descriptions of each focus area with specific challenges, considerations, strategies, and case studies are presented in chapters 6–10.

Table 1. Common Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies.

Focus areas	Strategies
Road weather management	Flashing beacons may be activated manually or automatically if tied to a road weather monitoring system to alert travelers of conditions.  DMS can provide real-time weather alerts and pavement condition information to travelers about conditions happening or developing while they are traveling.  Speed advisory messages encourage drivers to voluntarily comply with recommended safe travel speeds in response to deteriorating weather conditions.
Traffic incident management	Quick clearance policies and procedures aim to promptly remove vehicles. Traffic incident management programs can provide courtesy patrols/service patrols.
Work zone management	Smart work zone systems with DMS, video cameras, and radar can provide motorists with real-time traffic updates as motorists approach a work zone.  Drivers should be required to turn on their emergency warning flashers in areas where stopping is mandatory in a work zone to alert following vehicles of the work zone stopping condition.
Seasonal demand management	Contraflow or reversible lane operations and emergency shoulder use can increase capacity of a roadway network. Adaptive signal control can be used to manage seasonal congestion for fluctuating travel demand.
Special event management	Ensuring open communication among stakeholders before, during, and after the event.  During the event, have separate radio frequencies to ensure constant open communication among event coordinators and staff. Scheduling sufficient time before the event for planning and coordination among stakeholders.  Holding after-action or post-event meetings to identify lessons learned, shortcomings, and successful practices for future events.
All areas	Improving interagency and intra-agency coordination and integration to develop multi-agency response plans.  Using passive warning signs to alert travelers to potentially hazardous driving conditions downstream, or at a specific location. Using active warning systems with flashing beacons to supplement passive warning signs.  Using social media or online applications to provide pre-trip road condition information and forecast systems. These systems can influence a traveler’s choice of travel mode and departure time, as well as reduce potential congestion.  Providing real-time alerts and traffic condition information to travelers who are en route about events, delays, or incidents developing ahead of them. The message content dynamically changes to reflect current road conditions. Providing options for alternative modes of transportation in rural areas and influencing its attractiveness (transit, bicycle, pedestrian, etc.).