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Posts Tagged ‘traffic planning’

Congestion Management and Performance Measurements Made Easy with Latest Technology

November 10th, 2010 bc No comments

by Ben Chen, PE, PTOE

MAG Travel Time Database SystemCongestion management and performance measurements are two of the primary functions for a transportation agency.  A key to understanding both is travel time data.  Possible uses of travel time data include:

  •  Quantify a region’s overall congestion level (e.g. Travel Time Index)
  •  Identify bottleneck areas in need of further study
  •  Develop future improvement projects
  •  Assess the benefits of transportation projects
  •  Calibrate and validate regional travel demand models

Travel time data can be obtained using various methods.  A traditional method is to conduct travel time runs by probe vehicles equipped with GPS units.  Second by second raw GPS data (vehicle speed and latitude/longitude position) are collected and compiled to obtain travel time statistics.  A more cost effective method is now available to purchase a massive amount of travel time data or even raw GPS data from commercial vendors such as INRIX and TomTom.

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Transportation Data at a Glance

September 17th, 2010 clw 2 comments

How can management quickly access critical transportation data?  MS2′s new Dashboard Module allows users to display vital transportation system performance data and monitor that data using state of the art web-based technology.

The 2-minute video below shows two examples of how easy the Dashboard Module is to use.  The hybrid ArcGIS Server/Google map makes locating a point quick and informative.

View a live example of the Dashboard Module created for the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).

Analyzing Intersection Related Traffic Crash Data

March 25th, 2010 clw No comments

The golden rule of keeping it “apples to apples” is always an essential part of making a proper comparison of multiple items.  For the most part, this mentality has been widely utilized in the traffic safety world when analyzing intersection related traffic crashes.

Traffic engineers/planners and law enforcement officials primarily identify intersection related crashes through a pre-established distance from the center of the intersection and/or an officer’s selection of the crash being “intersection related” on the actual crash report.  Utilizing these criteria, network-wide analyses are then performed to identify the intersections with the highest crashes, crash severity, crash rate, etc.

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Crash Analysis Tool will Assist with Engineering and Enforcement Decisions

February 10th, 2010 clw 2 comments

By Jim Santilli, Coordinator, Traffic Improvement Association, Michigan  

Lieutenant David Livingston demonstrates TCAT 2.0 to law enforcement officers at the Troy Police Department on Wednesday

Law Enforcement and Traffic Engineering Officials Receive Training on a Web-Based Crash Analysis Program

WATERFORD–In a continued effort to reduce traffic crashes in the state of Michigan, the Traffic Improvement Association (TIA) hosted a training session for the users of its newest Traffic Crash Analysis Tool (TCAT 2.0) on Monday.  The four-hour training session, which was held at the Oakland County Executive Office Building in Waterford, was designed to teach law enforcement and traffic engineering officials the capabilities of the new program. 

“Since 1967, TIA has made the availability of accurate and timely traffic crash data a high priority,” said Susan M. Cischke, group vice president of Sustainability, Environment, and Safety Engineering at Ford Motor Company, and chair of the TIA Board of Directors.  “With the advancement of computerized technology, TIA has made significant progress.”

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