HE IS CO-MANAGER OF THE SPRINGFIELD MODOT WHICH PROVIDES TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ARE IN THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD AND STATE OF MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.
HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR OPTIMIZATION AND PROGRAMMING OF ALL CITY MAINTAINED TRAFFIC SIGNALS
AND WORKING WITH MODOT TO PRODUCE CONCURRENT PLANS FOR COORDINATION OF CITY AND STATE MAINTAINED INTERSECTIONS.
PRIOR TO COMING TO THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD IN 1998 TOM SPENT OVER TWO YEARS AS A TRAPS TRANSPORTATION ANALYST IN DALLAS, TEXAS.
HE GAINED EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING TRAFFIC SIGNAL TIMING FOR SYSTEMS IN GARLING, TEXAS, LUBBOCK, TEXAS.
ALSO IS LAUREL McCAIN, HIS PARTNER IN CRIME ASSISTANT TRAFFIC OPERATIONS ENGINEER FOR THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.
TOM, YOU CAN BEGIN WHEN YOU ARE READY.
THANK YOU, JERRY.
I WOULD LIKE TO START OFF WITH A LITTLE BIT OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE SPRINGFIELD AREA.
I KNOW MANY OF WONDERING PROBABLY WHERE IS SPRINGFIELD.
LOCATED IN SOUTHWEST MISSOURI.
SPRINGFIELD IS THE THIRD LARGEST CITY IN THE STATE BEHIND ST. LOUIS AND KANSAS CITY WITH POPULATION OF 155,000.
A REGIONAL HUB FOR AN AREA OF 380,000 IN THE METROPOLITAN SERVICE AREA.
THE LATEST ESTIMATES FOR VISITORS TO THE SPRINGFIELD AREA ARE OVER 7 MILLION MOST OF THOSE GOING TO THE BRANSON REGION 30-MILES TO OUR SOUTH.
IF YOU TAKE A LOOK AT OUR ROY SYSTEM YOU CAN SEE THAT THE FREEWAY LOOP AROUND THE CITY OPERATED AND MAINTAINED BY THE MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DOES CREATE A RING AROUND THE CITY
AND MODOT MAINTAINS AND OPERATES SEVERAL OF THE ARTERIAL SURFACE STREETS THROUGHOUT THE CITY LOCATED OR SHOWN HERE IN BLUE.
THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD MAINTAINS AND OPERATES THE ONES SHOWN IN GREEN THE ADDITIONAL ARTERIAL AND STREETS AND THEN ALL THE OTHER ROADWAYS THROUGHOUT THE CITY.
OUR JURISDICTIONS OVERLAP IN QUITE A FEW DIFFERENT AREA.
TAKE THE STREET SUNSHINE AND YOU SEE THAT MODOT MAINTAINS THE WEST PORTION AND THE CITY THE CENTRAL PORTION AND MODOT PICKS IT UP AGAIN TO THE EAST.
IT SHOWS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS FOR US TO COORDINATE AND WORK TOGETHER.
WITH THAT YOU SEE A TOTAL OF 247 SIGNALS IN THE SPRINGFIELD AREA.
MODOT MAINTAINING 108 OF THOSE AND THE CITY MAINTAINING THE ADDITIONAL 1..
GOES TO SHOW -- 139.
GOES TO SHOW HOW CRITICAL IT IS THAT WE WORK TOGETHER THAT THIS SYSTEM CAN'T OPERATE JUST AS ONE IS MAINTAINING THOSE AND OPERATING TOO.
RECOGNIZING THAT NEED TO WORK TOGETHER BACK IN THE LATE '80s THE CITY AND MODOT CAME TOGETHER AND ACQUIRED A COMMON LOCAL SOFTWARE FOR ALL OF THE TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS THROUGHOUT THE AREA.
THERE WERE TWO SEPARATE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEMS.
ONE FOR MODOT AND ONE FOR THE CITY AND THAT ALLOWED ALL OF THE CONTROLLERS TO BE -- TO RUN THE COMMON FIRMWARE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE ENTIRE MODOT DISTRICT HERE IN THE SPRINGFIELD AREA.
ALONG WITH THAT WE HAD A UNIFIED CENTRAL SOFTWARE INSTALLED WITH ONE LICENSE THAT ALLOWED USE BY BOTH AGENCIES TO TIE ALL OF THOSE SIGNALS TOGETHER INTO ONE SYSTEM.
TO FOLLOW UP THAT IN THE EARLY '90s THE CITY AND MODOT ALONG WITH THE CITY OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ADOPTED A COMMON CONTROLLER STANDARD USING THE 170E CONTROLLER PLATFORM
AND THEN ALSO DEVELOPED SIMILAR CABINET STANDARDS FOR EACH OF THE THREE AGENCIES.
TO AS WE DEVELOPED THE STANDARDS AND BROUGHT THE SYSTEMS TOGETHER IN THE FIELD THERE WAS ALSO A COMMITMENT TO SHARE RESOURCES TO SHARE THE COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE
AND START TO TIE THESE DIFFERENT SYSTEMS TOGETHER THROUGHOUT THE REGION.
SO ONCE THAT WAS BEING FORMED, THERE WAS ALSO THE NEED TO START TIEING THAT TOGETHER OPERATION.
THAT IS WHERE THE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER CAME ABOUT.
WE OPENED OUR DOORS IN JANUARY OF 1998 WITH OUR TMC AND IT PROVIDED A LOCATION FOR THE CITY AND STATE PERSONNEL TO WORK TOGETHER
WHERE WE COULD DEVELOP TRAFFIC SIGNAL TIMING TOGETHER, OPERATE THAT, OPERATORS WITHIN THE TMC, MONITOR TRAFFIC.
THEY KEEP AN EYE ON THE SIGNAL SYSTEM ITSELF.
RESPONDING TO INCIDENTS.
WORKING WITH 911 AND OTHER EMERGENCY RESPONDERS.
WORKING WITH THE SPRINGFIELD POLICE DEPARTMENT AND OTHERS ON SPECIAL EVENTS AND THEN ALSO PUTTING INFORMATION OUT TO THE MEDIA AND ALSO TO OUR WEBSITE
WITH SNAP SHOT IMAGES OF OUR TRAFFIC OR OUR CAMERA IMAGES AND THEN ALSO WE'RE GETTING READY TO LAUNCH OUR INCIDENT MODULE FOR OUR WEBSITE AS WELL.
WITHIN THE TMC BOTH AGENCIES HAVE EQUAL ACCESS TO THE SIGNAL SYSTEM REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT IS A CITY OR STATE MAINTAINED SIGNAL
WE HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS INTO THAT FROM ANY ONE LOGGED ON TO THE SIGNAL SYSTEM.
WE ALSO GIVE THOSE SAME RIGHTS TO THE CAMERA SYSTEM AS WELL.
ALTHOUGH WE KEEP THE MAINTENANCE OF OUR FACILITIES OUT IN THE FIELD SEPARATE WE BELIEVE THE GREATEST BENEFIT OF US COMING TOGETHER
IS THAT WE SHARE THAT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONGOING OPERATIONS OF THE SYSTEM ITSELF.
INCLUDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL TIMING AND FROM THAT WE START WITH OUR DATA COLLECTION WHERE WE ALSO WORK TOGETHER TO ACQUIRE THAT DATA.
WE GET SYSTEM DETECTOR INFORMATION WHETHER THAT BE FROM LOOPS OR VIDEO, WE GET LINK VOLUME COUNTS FROM THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD TRAFFIC ENGINEERING COUNT PROGRAM WITH TEMPORARY COUNTERS
WHETHER TUBES OR HIGH STARS OR SOMETHING OUT ON THE SURFACE OF THE ROADWAY THAT CAN BE TAKEN UP AND MOVED.
WE ALSO GET TURNING MOVEMENT COUNTS AT ALL OF THE SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS AND ALL OF THESE ARE COLLECTED EVERY FOUR YEARS TO WE ARE AT LEAST GETTING THAT UPDATED EVERY FOUR YEARS.
ANOTHER TYPE OF DATA THAT WE DO COLLECT, WE WORK TOGETHER THROUGH DIFFERENT DIE VICES AND SOFTWARE THAT IS INTERFACED WITH OUR CITY AND OUR STATE VEHICLES.
WE GO OUT AND WE DO TRAVEL TIME ANALYSIS.
WE WILL GO OUT AND DRIVE ALL OF OUR ARTERIAL CORRIDORS, MEASURING TRAVEL TIME DELAY, NUMBER OF STOPS.
TRAVEL SPEED AND THIS HELPS US TO IDENTIFY WHERE THE BOTTLE NECKS MIGHT BE IN THE SYSTEM, IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM AREA,
LET US KNOW WHERE WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS WITH EXISTING SIGNAL TIMING AND TRY TO MAKE AN IMPROVEMENT
OR ALSO TO CERTAINLY LOCATIONS THAT WE WANT TO KEEP AN EYE ON WHENEVER WE DO A COMPLETE UPGRADE OF THE SIGNAL TIMING.
SO IN A WAY THIS DOES CREATE A BASELINE FOR ALL OF THOSE IMPROVEMENTS.
WHENEVER WE START WITH THE NEXT ROUND OF RETIMING OF THE ENTIRE SYSTEM WE HAVE SOMETHING TO START WITH.
I GUESS OUR PRIMARILY OBJECTIVE WHEN WE TAKE A LOOK AT TRYING TO MAXIMIZE OUR TWO WAY PROGRESSION
AND TRYING TO DO THAT WITH THE MOST EFFICIENT CYCLING POSSIBLE AS OUR MAIN OBJECTIVES THAT GIVES US SOMETHING TO SHOOT FOR.
OF COURSE, WE CERTAINLY REALIZED THE LIMITATIONS ON THAT AND THE REALITY IS SOMETIMES WE HAVE TO JUST DO THE BEST WE CAN AND TO TRY TO ACCOMMODATE THE MAJORITY.
WE CERTAINLY CAN SHOW A BENEFIT TO SOMEONE WHO IS TRAVELING MORE THAN A COUPLE MILES DOWN A ROADWAYS WHERE THEY START TO SEE SOME COORDINATION.
WE'RE PROBABLY SERVING THEM MORE SO THAN WE ARE SERVING THE PERSON ON THE SIDE STREET MAYBE WAITING WHO IS WANTING TO JUST TURN ON THE MAIN STREET AND JUST GO A COUPLE OF BLOCKS.
SO IN TRYING TO BALANCE THIS WE REALIZE THAT OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE HAS GOT TO BE TO JUST TARGET THE BEST WE CAN AND ACCOMMODATE THE MAJORITY.
UNFORTUNATELY IS IS THE MAJORITY THAT WE WILL NOT BE HEARING FROM, IT IS THE MINORITY THAT WE MAY NOT BE DOING SO WELL ACCOMMODATING.
WE START IN WITH THE VILLEYAM DATA.
LOOK AT 24 HOUR COUNTS.
WE WILL PLOT THOSE AND THAT GIVES US AN IDEA OF WHAT THE TRAFFIC VOLUME TRENDS ARE THROUGHOUT DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY.
ONCE WE TAKE A LOOK AT EACH LOCATION WE WILL LOOK AT DIFFERENT COUNTS FOR DIFFERENT DAYS OF THE WEEK FOR THAT LOCATION ONCE WE SETTLE ON WHAT WE THINK TO BE A REASONABLE AVERAGE
THEN WE WILL START TO TAKE A LOOK TO SEE HOW MANY DIFFERENT TIMING PLANS DO WE WANT TO TRY TO IMPLEMENT TO ACCOMMODATE THE DIFFERENT CHANGES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND WE WILL SHOW SHOES THOSE
AND YOU CAN SEE THAT WITH THE RED LINE SHOWN AND AGREE EVEN THE NUMBER OF PLANS YOU MIGHT WANT TO RUN THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM AND LOOK AT WHAT TIME PERIODS WE WANT
BECAUSE CERTAINLY THERE COULD BE DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY THAT WE WANT TO AGREE ON A COORDINATION GROUPING.
WE WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT SIGNALS ARE WE TRYING TO COORDINATE THROUGHOUT THE CITY WHETHER IT BE WITH JUST ONE ENTIRE SYSTEM ON THE ARTERIAL SYSTEM
OR IS THERE A LOCATION WHERE WE MIGHT BE APT TO GO AHEAD AND INITIATE A REASONABLE BREAK IN THAT COORDINATION AND WE WANT TO DO THAT AT STRATEGIC LOCATIONS.
THE NEXT STEP IN THE PROCESS WE WOULD BUILD OR ACTUALLY IN MOST CASES UPDATE THE ANALYSIS MOD THAT WILL WE HAVE WITH ANY GEOMETRIC DATA CHANGES WE MIGHT HAVE.
BASICALLY ANY OF THE PARAMETERS THAT NEED TO BE IN -- LOADED INTO THE MODEL THAT APPLY TO ALL THE DIFFERENT TIME PERIODS.
THE NEXT STEP, WE WILL TAKE OUR TURNING MOVEMENT COUNT INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE IN THE INTERSECTIONS AND LOAD THAT INTO THE MODEL
AND WE WILL ALLOW THAT TO CALCULATE WHAT THE PEAK ONE HOUR VOLUME WOULD BE WITHIN THE TIME PERIODS THAT WE AGREED UPON FOR THE DIFFERENT PLANS.
AND IN DOING SO, WE CAN TAKE A LOOK WITH EXISTING TRAFFIC COUNTS AND USING THE EX-E. EXISTING TRAFFIC SIGNAL TIMING WE HAVE PUT THAT IN THE MODEL
AND GET AN UNDERSTANDING AS TO OR SORT OF CALIBRATION OF THE MODEL TO EXISTING CONDITIONS.
EVEN IF WE CAN'T CALIBRATE THAT TO THE EXACT EXISTING CONDITIONS IT DOES GIVE US SOME WHAT OF AN UNDERSTANDING
OF WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT FROM SOME OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT THE MODEL MIGHT GIVE US FOR ANY IMPROVEMENTS.
AND ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER WE WANT TO ACCEPT THOSE OR MAYBE IN WHAT DIRECTION WE MIGHT MAKE CHANGES USING THAT INFORMATION THAT THE MODEL IS GIVING US.
ONCE WE HAVE CALIBRATED THAT WE TAKE LOOK AT EACH OF THE INTERSECTIONS AND ALLOW THE MODEL TO OPTIMIZE AND TELL US WHAT WOULD BE THE OPTIMAL CYCLING IF EACH INTERSECTION WAS JUST RUNNING SIZE LATED.
THIS GIVE US AN IDEA OF WHERE THE CRITICAL INTERSECTIONS MIGHT BE THROUGHOUT THE CITY AND OBSERVE WHERE THE BOTTLE NECKS MIGHT BE.
ALSO ALLOWS US TO POINT TO GO BACK AND REVIEW WHAT WE THOUGHT OUR COORDINATION GROUPING MIGHT BE.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE THAT WE MIGHT WANT TO GROUP CERTAIN SIGNALS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE CITY WITH A DIFFERENT CYCLE LENGTH THAN THE REST.
OFF TIME AND WEEKENDS WE WILL SEE A SHIFT IN TRAFFIC PATTERNS WHERE WE WON'T TRY TO RUN COORDINATED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE ENTIRE CITY
BUT BREAK THAT WITH DIFFERENT CYCLE LINKS AROUND THE RETAIL AREAS WHEN TRAFFIC DROPS AT OTHER LOCATIONS WE WILL FIND THE BEST LOCATION TO TRY TO BREAK THAT COORDINATION.
IN MANY INSTANCES TRYING TO AGREE AND IN MANY WAYS COMPROMISE WITH MODOT, THE CITY AND MODOT HAVE HAD INSTANCES WHERE WE HAVE HAD TO DO JUST THAT.
WE HAVE HAD TO COMPROMISE.
I DO REMEMBER AN INSTANCE WHERE THERE WAS PRESSURE FROM THE CITY TO LOWER THE CYCLING AFTER COMPLETING THE CAM PAP IMPROVEMENTS PROJECTS
AND THERE WERE STILL INTERSECTIONS IN THE MODOT SYSTEM THAT HAD NOT YET BEEN IMPROVED AND IN THAT WAY WE DID HAVE TO COME TOGETHER
AND TRY TO SHOW SOME REDUCTION WITHOUT TRYING TO HURT THE MODOT SYSTEM AS WELL.
IT MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN THE BEST CYCLING FOR BOTH OF US BUT IN THE END WE REALIZED WHAT WAS MORE IMPORTANT WAS THAT WE CONTINUED TO MAINTAIN THAT COORDINATION.
THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE TO OPTIMIZE THE SPLITS FOR EACH INTERSECTION.
USING THOSE VOLUMES WE OPTIMIZE THAT TO ACCOMMODATE THE GREEN TIMES FOR EACH OF THE APPROACHES.
SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER WOULD BE THE MINIMUM GREEN TIMES WE WANT TO GIVE FOR EACH APPROACH.
PEDESTRIAN CLEARANCE WHERE WE EXPECT THERE MIGHT BE A LOT OF PEDESTRIAN ACTIVITY.
WE DON'T WANT THAT TO TAKE US OUT OF COORDINATION IF WE ARE NOT GIVING ENOUGH SIDE STREET TIME AND POSSIBLE EMITTING FACES.
WHERE WE MIGHT NOT WANT TO RUN A FUEL EIGHT PHASE OPERATION WHERE WE CAN TRY TO REDUCE THE CYCLING AND INCREASE EFFICIENCY.
AS I MENTIONED WE DO GET TRAFFIC COUNTS FROM ALL OF OUR SIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS BUT WE WOULDN'T NECESSARILY NEED THOSE.
WE FEEL LIKE AT SOME OF THE MINOR INTERSECTIONS WE WOULD BE JUST AS WELL TO ESTIMATE THOSE.
CERTAINLY WHERE WE DO HAVE SIDE STREET ACT ACTUATION.
REALLY THE WAY WE LOOK AT IT, WE ARE NOT NECESSARILY IDENTIFYING THE INTERSECTION AS WE ARE THE TWO HIGHEST PRIORITY CORRIDORS WE WANT FOR THAT TIME PERIOD AND FOR THAT PLAN.
ONCE WE HAVE IDENTIFIED THAT THE CITY ENGINEER WILL TAKE ONE ROUTE AND THE STATE ENGINEER WILL TAKE ANOTHER ROUTE AND WE TRY TO OPTIMIZE WORKING WITH THE TIME SPACE DIAGRAMS.
SOMETIMES THE SPEEDS HAVE TO CHANGE BASED ON THE TYPE OF OFFSETS WE ARE USING AND TYPE OF COORDINATION AND SOMETIMES THAT AFFECTS THE SPEEDS THAT WE DO SEE OUT IN THE SYSTEM.
WE WILL ALSO USE YOUR MODEL OUTPUT, KEEPING IN MIND OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THAT FROM THE CALIBRATION.
WE WILL USE THAT AS A START.
THAT GIVES US A GOOD STARTING POINT TO THEN TO SOME FURTHER ADJUSTMENTS WITH PHASE ORDERS AND OFFSETS TO TRY TO ACHIEVE THE MAXIMUM GREEN BANDS WE CAN.
AND WE ARE NOT JUST WANTING TO BE CONCERNED WITH THE ENTIRE ARTERIAL BAND BUT WE ALSO WANT TO TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION WHAT IS HAPPENING BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL INTERSECTIONS.
GET STARTED AT ONE MINOR INTERSECTION WE WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE TO STOP EVERYONE ALONG THE WAY UNTIL THEY GET BACK INTO THE GREEN BAND AT THE NEXT PAGER INTERSECTION.
ANOTHER THING TO KEEP IN MIND THAT WE TAKE A LOOK AT IS THAT WE TRY TO KEEP OUR PHASE ORDER AND SUCH THAT WE HAVE LEADING LEFT TURNS
THAT ALLOWS US TO LET THOSE LEFT TURNS GAP OUT AND LET THE DETECTORS WORK.
IN MANY INSTANCES WE CAN ACHIEVE THE GOOD TWO WAY PROGRESSION IN DOING THAT SO WE WILL GO TO A LEAD LAG AND IN SOME INCIDENTAL LAGGING TURNS IN COORDINATION.
WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE ARE USING THE MINIMUM GREEN SPLITS SO THAT WILL GO AHEAD AND MAX OUT DURING THAT CYCLE NO MATTER HOW MANY VEHICLES ARE ACTUALLY MAKING THAT MOVE.
WE ALSO WANT TO KEEP IN MIND THAT SIDE STREET ACTUATION CAN GIVE US EARLY RELEASES AND JUST BECAUSE THE TAX BASED DIAGRAM MIGHT SHOW NICE GOOD CRISP BANDS GOING THROUGH
WE KNOW THAT ON THE STREET SOMETIMES THOSE CAN CHANGE FROM PSYCH CYCLE TO CYCLE.
ANOTHER THING WE TAKE A HOOK AT IS POSSIBLY CONTROLLING THE PLATOON SPEED.
IF IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE HAVING GO TO HAVE PLATOON HAVE TO STOP WE MIGHT TRY TO SLOW THAT PLATOON DOWN UPSTREAM.
WE FIGURE IT IS BETTER TO SLOW THEM DOWN GOING THROUGH INTERSECTIONS THAN IT IS TO BRING THEM TO A COMPLETE STOP WITHIN REASON.
TRY TO CLEAR THE QUEUES OUT AHEAD OF A PLATOON IF POSSIBLE AND ADJUST OUR OFF SETS.
ONCE THE CITY ENGINEER HAS DECIDED THAT HE LIKES WHAT HE SEES ON ONE ROUTE AND THE MODOT HAS WORKED ON THE OTHER WE WILL TRADE AND WE WILL REVIEW EACH OTHER'S PLAN AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS
AND AGREE ON WHAT CHANGES WE MIGHT WANT TO MAKE AND ONCE WE AGREE WITH WHAT WE ARE GOING WITH WE WILL LOCK THAT INTERSECTION AND WE WILL LOCK THE OFFSETS ALL ALONG THE ARTERIAL STREET
AND DECIDE WHAT IS OUR NEXT HIGHER PRIORITY AND WE WILL SET IN AND DO THAT ROUTE AND LOCK THAT IN AND START BUILDING OFF OF THAT
JUST LIKE A GOOD GAME OF SCRABBLE, FINALLY YOU GET TO THE LAST ROUTE AND MOST OF THE OFFSETS ARE ALREADY LOCKED IN.
THAT IS KIND OF HOW WE BUILD OUR ENTIRE SYSTEM.
ONCE WE HAVE THAT SET IT IS TIME TO LOAD THAT INTO THE SIGNAL SYSTEM.
A LOT OF IMPROVEMENTS HAVE BEEN MADE WITH THE IMPORT AND EXPORT FUNCTIONS OF SOME OF THE MODELS IN THE SIGNAL SYSTEM AND THOSE ARE VERY HANDY.
BUT IT IS ALSO VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE UNDERSTAND THE REQUIREMENTS OF OUR SOFTWARE AND BELIEVE ME I SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE
ON THAT WHERE WE CERTAINLY HAVE MADE OUR SHARE OF ERRORS OR LITTLE DISCOVERIES AS WE WOULD RATHER CALL THEM WITH SUCH THINGS AS JUST HAVING THE PERMISSIVE PERIOD SET RIGHT IN THE SYSTEM.
HAVING OUR SYNCHRONIZED PHASES IN THE SYSTEM, CORRECT.
PHASE ORDER AND MAX LIMITS.
MAKING SURE THAT ALL OF THOSE ARE LOADED CORRECTLY.
AND WE ALSO HAVE A TEST CONTROL THAT WE HAVE LOADED ON OUR NETWORK TO ALLOW US TO SEE WHAT IT IS GOING TO -- SEE HOW THE SYSTEM IS GOING TO OPERATE BEFORE WE ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT THAT ON THE STREET.
ONCE WE PUT THAT IN, DOWNLOAD THE PLAN WE ARE READY TO GO OUT AND SEE HOW IT IS ACCOMMODATING THE TRAFFIC.
WE WILL GO OUT IN OUR VEHICLES, THE CITY AND STATE ENGINEERS GO OUT TOGETHER AND OBSERVE THE ENTIRE SYSTEM.
WE WILL DRIVE THE CORRIDORS AND STOP AND LOOK AT INDIVIDUAL INTERSECTIONS TO SEE HOW WELL THE SPLITS ARE WORKING IN THE INTERSECTIONS.
THIS IS WHERE OUR CCTB SYSTEM HAS COME IN HANDY.
IN MANY IN TANS WE CAN FOLLOW A PLATOON.
WE CAN SEE OVER 100 INTERSECTIONS AND THAT ALLOWED US TO CONTINUE MAKING CHANGES EVEN AFTER WE GET THOSE IMPLEMENTED
WE CAN CONTINUE TO MAKE THE CHANGES AT INTERSECTIONS AS WE SEE FIT THROUGHOUT THE LIFE OF THE PLAN.
OF COURSE, AFTER WE FINISH THAT AND WE AGREE THAT WE ARE COMFORTABLE WITH WHAT IS OUT THERE WORKING WE WILL GO AHEAD AND WE WILL RERUN OUR TRAVEL TIME ANALYSIS.
WE WILL TAKE A LOOK AT -- WE'LL TRY TO COMPARE THE OUTPUT FROM THAT ANALYSIS TO THE PLAN RUNNING BEFORE.
YOU CAN SEE HERE SOME DIFFERENCES GEAN BETWEEN THE '99 AND 2000 PLAN AND YOU CAN SEE THAT WE ARE LONG OVER DUE AT LEAST IN OUR OWN MIND IN MAKING SYSTEM WIDE CHANGES.
WE HAVE HAD CONSIDERABLE CONSTRUCTION TO ALL OF OUR MAJOR INTERSECTIONS THROUGHOUT THE CITY AND WE ARE JUST NOW FINISHING UP WITH THE LAST OF OUR MAJOR INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS
AND WE ARE READY TO GO AHEAD AND DO ANOTHER SYSTEMWIDE PLAN RIGHT NOW SO WE HOPE TO SEE SOME IMPROVEMENT OVER WHAT WE DID BACK IN 2000.
EVEN THEN WE SAW IN TRAVEL TIME WE SAW SOME REDUCTION OF UP TO 18 PERCENT AND, OF COURSE, IN SOME ROUTES WE ACTUALLY SAW WHERE TRAVEL TIMES INCREASED, NOT GOOD, UP BY 3 PERCENT.
OVERALL THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM WE ESTIMATED THAT WE IT REDUCE TRAVEL TIME BY 5 PERCENT.
DELAY TIME BY 9 PERCENT AND NUMBER OF STOPS BY 4 PERCENT.
WE HOPE TO SEE THAT THAT WILL CONTINUE TO IMPROVE.
BUT WE RE RECOGNIZE IT IS KIND OF A LAW OF RETURNS.
WE LIKE TO MAINTAIN WHAT WE HAVE CERTAINLY.
KEEPING THIS IN MIND WE HAVE ANOTHER MEASURING STICK THAT WE WILL USE WHERE WE LOOK AT THE ACTUAL TRAVEL TIMES MEASURED
FROM THE TRAVEL TIME RUNS TO THE CALCULATED FREE FLOW TRAVEL TIME AND FROM THAT DEVELOP A RATIO OR TRAVEL TIME EFFICIENCY AS WE CALL IT AND SEE ABOUT HOW WE HOW WELL WE ARE DOING WITH THE RATIO.
I'M NOT SURE WE WOULD WANT TO USE THE NORMAL SCHOLASTIC GRADING SCALE.
I'M' NOT SURE WE WOULD BE MAKING AN A BUT WE FIGURE IF WE CAN DEEP ABOVE 70 PERCENT WE ARE DOING WELL.
WE ARE STARTLING THE PROCESS OVER AGAIN AND HOPEFULLY WE WILL BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THAT.
I APPRECIATE THE TIME.
IF ANY ONE HAS ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION THAT THEY WOULD LIKE OR EVEN BETTER IF THEY HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS FOR US WE TAKE THOSE AS WELL.
CONTACT EITHER MYSELF OR LAUREL MCKEON AT MODOT.
REACH US AT TMC AND OZARKS TRAFFIC.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, TOM.
FROM THE CHAT AREA YOU CAN SEE WE HAD A LOT OF QUESTIONS AND INTEREST IN THIS TOPIC.
APPRECIATE SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCES IN COORDINATING SIGNAL TIMING IMPROVEMENTS WITH YOUR PARTNER AGENCIES, PARTICULARLY MODOT.
I THINK EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW TO ASK THE QUESTIONS.
THIS IS AN INDICATION.
MAKE SURE YOU USE THE CHAT AREA, IF YOU WOULD AND ADDRESS IT TO ALL PARTICIPANTS.
LET GET RIGHT TO THE SECOND PRESENTER WHO IS GARY PETROVITZ IN OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
THE TALK IS ENTITLED OAKLAND COUNTY, PETROVITZ IS THE SIGNAL SYSTEMS ENGINEER FOR OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
HE HAS HELD VARIOUS POSITIONS ALL RELATED TO TRAFFIC OPERATIONS.
HIS CURRENT DUTIES INCLUDE RUNNING THE TRAFFIC OPERATIONS CENTER SIGNAL SYSTEMS DIVISION AND IMPLEMENTING ITS PROJECTS.
CURRENTLY THE PROJECT MAG FOR MANAGER FOR A COUNTY WIDE EFFORT.
ONE YEAR OF CONSULTING AND THREE YEARS WITH THE FHW AND DUTIES INCLUDED THE DESIGN OPERATION AND DESIGN OF VARIOUS ITS PROJECTS
IN CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES, TORONTO AND IN ATLANTA IN PREPARATION FOR THE 1996 SUMMER OLYMPICS.
GARY GRADUATED FROM MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
A REGISTERED TRAFFIC ENGINEER IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
BEGIN WHEN YOU ARE READY.
THANKS, JERRY.
AND WELCOME TO EVERYONE ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
OUR PROJECT BEGAN WITH A MEETING CALLED THE OAKLAND COUNTY TRAFFIC SIGNAL SUMMIT.
OUR FIRST MEETING WAS IN AUGUST OF 1999.
REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, MY AGENCY, THE ROAD COMMISSIONER FOR OAKLAND COUNTY,
VARIOUS LOCAL AND CONSULTANTS AND THE LOCAL TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION WHICH IS A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION THAT EMPHASIZES SAFETY.
THREE PRIMARY ISSUES CAME OUT.
FIRST OF ALL, WAS THE TIMELY INSTALLATION OF SIGNALS.
THE SECOND WAS CLEARANCE INTERVALS AND RELATIONSHIP TO RED LIGHT RUNNING AND THE SIGNAL TIMING PROGRESSION WHICH IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS PRESENTATION.
IN OAKLAND COUNTY WE HAVE OVER 1,500 TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
600 OF THOSE SIGNALS ARE AN ADAPTIVE SYSTEM WHICH IS THE SYDNEY COORDINATED ADAPTIVE TRAFFIC SYSTEM
WHICH IS THE REAL TIME TRAFFIC SYSTEM THAT TAKES REAL TIME VOLUMES SECOND BY SECOND AND UPDATES THE TIMINGS.
THOSE ARE CONTINUALLY UPDATED ON A SECOND BY SECOND BASIS.
WHAT WE ARE FOCUSING ON IS THE OTHER 00 FIXED TIMER OR SEMI ACTUATED SIGNALS ACROSS THE COUNTY.
WE NEVER HAD A COMPREHENSIVE RETIMING STUDY IN OAKLAND COUNTY.
NONE OF THE CYCLE LENGTH SPLITS AND OFFSETS HAVE BEEN LOOKED AT IN ANY GREAT DETAIL.
THE PEAK PERIODS HAVE NOD NOT BEEN LOOKED AND AND THE CLEARANCE INTERVALS, A LOT WERE DEVELOPED OVER TIME AND NONE WERE CONSISTENT ACROSS THE COUNTY.
OAKLAND COUNTY IS LOCATED OUT IN THE NORTHWEST SIDE OF DETROIT AND IT IS A LARGE COUNTY OVER 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE.
TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF GROWTH.
DURING THE LATE '80s AND EARLY '90s BECAME AN IMPLEMENT COMMUNITY WITH DAIMLER CHRYSLER AND DELPHI AND K-MART MOVING INTO THE AREA.
MANY NEW SIGNALS HAVE BEEN PUT IN ALONG CORRIDORS.
THE MATCHUP WITH ADDITIONAL SIGNALS AND POP POPULATION AND WE HAD MINUTE, MA'AM RESOURCES TO MAINTAIN THE TIMINGS ON A CONTINUAL BASIS.
THIS SLIDE HERE SHOWS THE PUBLIC PARTNERS THAT WERE PART OF THIS PROCESS.
THE ROAD COMMISSION FOR OAKLAND COUNTY WERE THE PRO PROJECT MANAGER AND TEAM LEADER OF ALL THIS.
THE OTHER THREE AGENCIES ARE THE CITY OF ROYAL OAK, PONTIAC AND FERNDALE ARE IMPORTANT
BECAUSE THE ROAD COMMISSION FOR OAKLAND COUNTY MAINTAINS 1,300 OF THE 1,500 TRAFFIC SIGNALS ARE MAINTAINED BY OAKLAND COUNTY.
THESE THREE ENTITIES MAINTAIN THE OTHER 200 SIGNALS.
IT WAS IMPORTANT TO HAVE THEM IN THE PROCESS.
WAYNE COUNTY AND MACOMB COUNTY WERE BORDER COUNTIES WHERE THEY MAINTAINED SOME OF THE SIGNALS.
THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAD OVER 300 OF THOSE SIGNALS.
WE MAINTAIN THEM THEY STILL HAVE JURISDICTION OVER THEM SO THIS HE HAD TO APPROVE ALL OF THE TIMINGS.
AND THEN AGAIN THE TRAFFIC IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.
A MAJOR PART THAT THEY WERE PROVIDING WAS NINE ACCIDENT ANALYSIS.
-- WAS THE ACCIDENT ANALYSIS.
THE FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT WAS CMAC FUNDED.
WE WENT THROUGH THE SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS AND ALSO GOT WITH THE MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OUR FUNDS
AND POOLED THEM TOGETHER TO GET ABOUT $3.6 MILLION TO COVER ALL 900 TRAFFIC SIGNALS FOR THIS PROJECT.
IT WAS 100 PERCENT FUNDING.
THE PROJECT WAS SPLIT INTO THREE PHASES TO HELP BREAK THE PROJECT UP INTO FUNDING PURPOSES AND AS WELL AS BEING ABLE TO IMPLEMENT THE PROJECT.
EACH PHASE COVERED A A GEOGRAPHIC REGION OF THE COUNTY.
WHAT HAPPENED BECAUSE OF THE PHASING AND UNUSUAL PART WAS ACTUALLY PHASE 1 AND PHASE 2 RECEIVED THE MONEY CONCURRENTLY
AND THIS WAS JUST BECAUSE WE WERE PICKING UP MONEYS LEFT OVER FROM UNSPENT PROJECTS.
WE ENDED UP GETTING BOTH PHASES IN THE ONE YEAR.
650 SIGNALS WERE COMPLETED IN 2003.
WE HAVE ALREADY STARTED PHASE 3 WHICH IS THE REMAINING 250 INTERSECTIONS AND THAT IS EXPECTED TO BE COMPLETED IN DECEMBER OF THIS YEAR.
THE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT INCLUDED INITIAL COORDINATION MEETINGS WITH THE LOCAL.
WE HAVE OVER 50 LOCAL JURISDICTIONS IN THE COUNTY THAT EITHER HAVE SIGNALS OR WERE WE ARE MAINTAINING SIGNALS FOR THEM
AND WE WANTED TO GET OUT TO THE AGENCIES AND DESCRIBE WHAT WE WERE DOING AND GET ANY INPUT AND LOCAL INVOLVEMENT THAT WE COULD
AND ANYTHING THAT WE MAY NOT SEE FROM THE COUNTY LEVEL BUT ISSUES THEY MAY HAVE LOCALLY WE WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT BEFORE WE GOT INTO THE SYSTEM.
WE HAD A GOOD CONVERSATION WITH EACH LOCAL ENTITY AND COLLECTED A GOOD PORTION OF INFORMATION.
THE BIGGS PORTION BIGGS BIG PORTION IS THE DATA COLLECTION.
THEN AFTER WE MODELED AND IMPROVED ALL OF THE TIMINGS WE IMPLEMENTED AND DID A FIELD REVIEW.
WE ALSO DID THE CRASH ANALYSIS AS I MENTIONED BRIEFLY AND IDENTIFIED ANY GEOMETRIC OR SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS THAT WOULD BENEFIT DOWN THE ROAD.
IT HELPED US PRIORITIZE FUTURE CAPITAL IMPROVE PROJECTS THAT COULD HELP OUT THE SYSTEM.
DATA COLLECTION IS A BIG PART OF THE PROJECT.
OVER 50 PERCENT OF THE BUDGET WENT INTO THIS PORTION.
WE COLLECTED A.M. AND PM MOVEMENT COUNTS AND ADDED COUNTS TO FILL IN FOR AREAS WHERE SCHOOLS WERE OR HAD HEAVY BUSINESSES AT ODD HOURS.
WE COLLECTED 24-HOUR COUNTERS AT EVERY INTERSECTION THAT FLASH AND HELPED US DETERMINE CORRIDORS TO HELP US DECIDE WHEN WE NEEDED TO RUN THE PEAK DIALS.
GHEE GEOMETRY COLLECTED AT EVERY.
ALSO COLLECTED DIGITAL PHOTOS AND GOT GPS INFORMATION.
SIMPLE TO GET CONSULTANTS, WE HAD THE CONSULTANTS OUT THERE AND THIS WAS GOING TO BE USED AS WE MOVE INSIDE A COMPREHENSIVE SIGNAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
SAFETY COMPONENTS AND ONE OF THE KEY THINGS WE ARE LOOKING AT IS BETTER SIGNAL TIMINGS WE KNEW WOULD PROVIDE SMOOTHER FLOW WHICH RESULT RESULTS IN SAFER ROADS.
ONE OF THE PRIORITIES THAT CAME OUT WAS CLEARANCE INTERVALS.
WE TOOK A LOOK AT PEDESTRIAN INTERVALS AND GOT AGREEMENT FROM THE STATE AND THE LOCAL ENTITIES WITHIN THE COUNTY TO USE THE ONE COMMON CLEARANCE INTERVAL
WHICH IS THE ITE CLEARANCE INTERVAL BUT WE WENT BACK AND FORTH A NUMBER OF TIMES ON WHAT TO CHOOSE BUT THAT IS WHAT THE COMPROMISE WAS.
ALL 1,500 SIGNALS HAVE THE SAME CLEARANCE INTERVAL.
WE DID A CRASH ANALYSIS.
IF THERE WERE MORE THAN TIMING ISSUES OR ANYTHING ELSE TO BE DONE, LEFT TURN PHASES FOR FUTURE PROJECTS OR ANY OTHER IMPROVEMENTS WE COULD MAKE.
AND THEN THE FLASH OPERATION RAIS ANALYSIS.
AS I MENTIONED WE TOOK 24 HOUR COUNTS AT ALL OF THE SIGNALS THAT FLASH BOTH TO FIND OUT WHEN THE PEAK PERIODS WERE BUT ALSO TO ANALYZE WHETHER THE FLASH OPERATIONS SCHEDULE WERE, CORRECT.
Q3 DID ANALYSIS HERE.
THE MAIN THING WE DID HERE WAS SEE EXACTLY ALL WE DID WAS EXTEND THE HOURS OF OPERATION FROM A SAFETY PERSPECTIVE.
WE DIDN'T WANT TO GET INTO THE LOCAL JURISDICTIONS IN DETERMINING THERE ARE OTHER REASONS BESIDES VOLUME THAT THE SIGNAL AT ANY TIME WANT TO BE RUNNING.
PROJECT BENEFITS.
WE SAW BENEFIT COST RATIOS OF OVER 75 TO ONE ON MOST OF THE CORRIDORS WE SAW HER.
THE MOEs WE USED CAME FROM THE SIN SKIN SINK ROW TRAFFIC STIM YOU LAKES.
WE DIDN'T DO ANY TRAFFIC RUNS ON PHASE 1 AND 2.
WE WILL BE DOING THEM IN PHASE 3 TO GET ADDITIONAL TRAVEL TIME SAVINGS.
THERE WAS OB VEE WITH USUALLY A TEE CREASE IN FUEL CON SUMS.
IMPROVED AIR QUALITY.
TO FUND THE FEW TOUR PROJECTS WE WANTED TO HAVE GOOD JUSTIFICATION ON THE AIR QUALITY BENEFITS.
REDUCTION IN TRAFFIC CRASHES.
CURSORY TRAFFIC ANALYSIS WAS DONE AFTER WITH WITHIN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME AND SHOWED THAT THERE WAS IN MANY CORRIDORS
THERE WAS AN OVER 12 PERCENT REDUCTION IN ACCIDENTS AND A SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN MOST ALL TYPES OF ACCIDENTS OCCURRING.
THIS PROJECT WAS VERY POLITICALLY FRIENDLY.
BEING 100 FUNDED IT WAS EASY TO GET THEM FROM THE LOCALS.
THE QUICK IMPLEMENTATION WAS NICE VERSUS A MAJOR PROJECT MAYBE OF WIDENING A MILE OR TWO OF ROAD THAT MAKE TAKE FOUR OR FIVE YEARS TO GET IMPLEMENTED
WE ARE UPDATING 1,500 TRAFFIC SIGNALS ACROSS 900 SQUARE MILES SO IT WAS NICE TO HAVE THE QUICK IMPLEMENTATION AND A WEALTH OF DATA.
A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF DATA WAS COLLECTED IN THE PROJECT AND WE GOT A LOT OF REQUESTS FROM LOW LOCALS.
THEY ARE ABLE TO HAVE DATA ON HAND THAT SAVED THEM MONEY.
ALSO THEY WERE ABLE TO QUICKLY GET THE DATA WITHOUT HAVING TO GO OUT AND COLLECT IT.
SOME OF THE LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE PROJECT HERE IN OAKLAND COUNTY, FIRST OF ALL, OF THE NEED FOR A BETTER SIGNAL INVENTORY.
AGAIN, WE HAD ESSENTIALLY THROUGH ALL PHASES WE HAD SIX DIFFERENT ENTITIES OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS
AND IT WAS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW POOR SOME OF THE INVENTORIES I GUESS WERE INCLUDING EXACTLY WHERE SOME OF THE LOCATIONS WERE.
SOME WERE FIRE STATIONS OBVIOUSLY THAT DIDN'T NEED TO BE COUNTED.
PEDESTRIAN ONLY SIGNALS THAT DIDN'T NEED TURNING MOVEMENT COUNTS AND OTHER SPECIALIZATIONS.
IN PHASE ONE AND TWO WE HAD A LOT OF DIFFICULTIES THERE.
DIFFICULTIES GETTING THE TIMINGS AND CLEARANCE INTERVALS IN THE OLDER CONTROLLERS.
WE USE PREDOMINANTLY EAGLE CONTROLLERS IN THE COUNTY.
ESPECIALLY THE EF140s WHICH WE HAD SOME ISSUES.
TIMING PLAN ERRORS AND TIMING PLAN INPUT ERRORS.
WHEN WE SEND THE CREWS OUT TO IMPLEMENT THREE OR FOUR CHANGES IN THE DAY IT IS GENERALLY NOT AN ISSUE
BUT IMPLEMENTING TEN, 15, 20, SEEMED LIKE ONE OR TWO OF THEM HAD PUNCHING ERRORS IN THE CONTROLLERS AND RESULTED IN TIMINGS AND BACKED TRAFFIC.
WE HAD AN ISSUE THERE WE NEEDED TO ADDRESS.
THE PROJECT WAS SIMPLY TOO LARGE AND TOO FAST.
AS I MENTIONED PHASE 1 AND 2 CAME TOGETHER.
WHILE IT SOUNDED GREAT AT FIRST IT BECAME OVERWHELMING TO BE DOING 650 SIGNALS.
THE TIME SCALE WAS A YEAR AND A HALF.
TOOK OVER TWO YEARS BY THE TIME WE WERE DONE.
WHEN WE STARTED WE DIDN'T HAVE A FULL STAFF OF ENGINEERS AND MANY OF THEM WERE NEW.
WE NEEDED MORE TRAINING ON THE SYNCHRO AND THE ENGINEERS DIDN'T HAVE TIME TO BECOME FAMILIAR WITH THE EXISTING FIELD CONDITIONS PRIOR TO STARTING TO GO INTO THE RETIMING OF THE SYSTEM.
SO WE WEREN'T AS FAMILIAR AS WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE BEEN TO HAVE A GOOD REVIEW PROCESS.
MANY UNFORESEEN DELAYS.
TRYING TO GET ALL OF THE DATA FROM THEM CREATED DELAYS IN GETTING THE SYSTEM GOING.
REVIEW AND APPROVAL TIMES.
WE SPECIFICALLY KNEW IT WOULD BE A LOT OF REVIEWS AND IT WOULD BE IMPORTANT SO WE SET UP TIME PERIODS FOR HOW LONG FOR EACH STEP A REVIEW WOULD TAKE.
THREE WEEKS ET CETERA AND THAT WAS PUT IN WITH OUR AGREEMENTS WITH THE CONSULTANTS AND SO WHEN THEY FIGURED OUT THEIR TIMELINES THEY COULD ADJUST FOR OUR REVIEW PERIOD TIMES.
EVEN GIVEN THOSE TIMES BECAUSE OF THE SHORT STAFF WE HAD WE JUST COULDN'T MEET THOSE TIMES IN THE INITIAL PHASES.
DATA SHARING.
LESSONS LEARNED.
ALL DATA SIMULATIONS BIWEEKLY STATUS REPORTS WERE ALL SHARED ELECTRONICALLY WHICH WAS A NICE METHOD AND KEPT DOWN ON THE PAPER GOING BACK AND FIRTH.
ALL APPROVALS AND CLARIFICATIONS WERE DONE THROUGH E-MAIL.
AN ELECTRONIC COPY OF WHAT THE RESULT WAS.
WE JUST DID IT ALL OVER THE E-MAIL WHICH WAS REAL NICE.
THE DIGITAL PICTURES THAT WE COLLECTED THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS WERE REAL NICE.
WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING AT TRYING TO ENSURE WHAT GEOMETRICS ARE OUT OR NO TURN ON RED SIGNS OR THINGS WE COULD EASILY PULL THOSE PICTURES UP WHILE REVIEWING CORRIDORS WHICH ARE REALLY HELPFUL.
POLICE NEEDED TO BE CONTACTED ON DAYS COUNTS WERE BEING TAKEN.
WHEN YOU ARE OUT THERE ONE DAY NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE BUT WHEN YOU ARE UP AND DOWN A CORRIDOR FOR A WHOLE WEEK OF TIME PEOPLE START TO NOTICE AND THEY CALL THE POLICE.
TAKES ONE TIME FOR THE POLICE TO COME OUT AND THE COUNT IS INVALID.
WE HAD TO ADJUST AND WE LET THEM KNOW UP FRONT ON DAYS WE WERE GOING OUT AND SOLVED THAT ISSUE.
WE ALSO NEEDED TO FIELD REVIEW THE IMPLEMENTATIONS QUICKLY.
INITIALLY WE HAD -- WE WANTED A 30 DAY AS WE CALLED KIND OF A BREAK-IN PERIOD WITH THE NEW TIMINGS TO GET ISSUES FROM THE PUBLIC AND LOCALS AND SEE WHAT WAS GOING ON
AND LET THE SYSTEM SETTLE DOWN BEFORE WE STARTED MAKING TWEAKS TO IT BUT WHAT WE FOUND WAS BETWEEN THE ISSUES OF SYNCHRO THINGS THAT WE DIDN'T THINK WERE AS GOOD AS WE THOUGHT
OR WHEN THE CREWS PUSHED IN THE WRONG TIMINGS MAKE SURE THAT THE CONSULTANT WAS OUT IN THE FIELD THE NEXT DAY VERIFYING THE CORRIDOR WAS RUNNING TO WHAT WE PLANNED ON IT RUNNING.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHANGES WE MADE BAS BASED ON THE LESSONS YOUR LEARNED?
A GOOD SIGNAL INVENTORY FOR PHASE 3.
A LITTLE MORE TIME TO DO UPFRONT WORK THAN WE DID THE FIRST TIME AROUND.
THAT IS HELPFUL.
ZONES WERE ALSO DEFINED UP FRONT.
WE MOD ANY THESE SLIGHTLY AS WE GET INTO THE TIMING PROJECT.
WE LOOK A LOOK AT WHERE WE THOUGHT THE ZONE SHOULD BE AND WHAT WE WANTED TO COORDINATE AND WHAT WE DIDN'T BASED ON CONVERSATIONS WITH THE LOCALS AND THAT HELPED US START LAYING OUT THINGS UP FRONT.
EACH TIMING PLAN WAS REVIEWED UP FRONT WHICH IS AGAIN BECAUSE WE HAD A LITTLE TIME BEFORE PHASE 3 WE COULD DO THAT
AND TAKE A LOOK AT WAS THERE ODD DIALS PUT IN OR UNUSUAL THINGS GOING ON AND WE COULDN'T FIGURE OUT AND TRY TO TALK TO LOCALS ABOUT IT SO WE NEW EXACTLY WHAT WAS GOING ON.
ENGINEERS WERE ASSIGNED SYNCHRO ZONES UP FRONT.
WE HAVE A VERY LARGE SYSTEM WITH 1,500 TRAFFIC SIGNALS REALLY TAKES -- IT IS HARD TO MEMORIZE ALL OF THE LOCATIONS AND ISSUES AT ALL OF THE PLACES
SO THEY WERE ABLE TO WORK ON EACH INDIVIDUAL ZONE BY ENGINEER REVIEWING THE CONSULTANT WORK AND BUILT MORE TIME IN FOR THE REVIEWS.
AS I MENTIONED WE ADDED A LITTLE EXTRA TIME AND PUT A REVIEW STEP IN ONE LOCATION JUST TO HELP US BE ABLE TO RESPOND IN THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF TIME BACK TO THE CONSULTANTS.
WE ALSO AS I MENTIONED BECAUSE WE FOUND OUT HOW CRITICAL IT WAS TO HAVE THE REVIEWS OF THE IMPLEMENTATION IN THE FIELD
WE BUDGETED MORE OF THE PROJECT TOWARDS THE FIELD REVIEWS AND THE PHASE 3 WHICH SO FAR IS I THINK IS GOING TO BERE A MUCH BETTER WAY OF DOING IT.
THERE IS A LOT TO GAIN FROM THE FIELD REVIEWS AND WE SIMPLY DIDN'T PUT ENOUGH TIME IN THEM WHEN WE STARTED PHASE 1 AND PHASE 2.
CURRENT STATUS OF THE PROJECT IS UPDATE #D ON THE WEBSITE.
ALL PROJECT PARTNERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE WEBSITE AND IT IS ESSENTIALLY THE BASELINE FOR THE FUTURE SIGNAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
THAT HAS BEEN NICE BECAUSE ALL OF THE COUNTS AND DATA AND PICTURES AND GEOMETRICS ARE LOADED ON TO THE WEBSITE.
AND EVERY WEEK THEY WOULD BE LOADING INFORMATION IN SO THIS YOU CAN SEE A STATUS OF WHAT THEY ARE GETTING DONE AND WHERE THEY'RE GETTING DONE AND MADE DATA AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY.
A NICE PART WAS THIS ONLINE KIND OF PROJECT TRACKING WE WERE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT.
THANK YOU FOR HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO EVERYONE.
I HAVE GOT MY E-MAIL ADDRESS HERE ON MY PHONE NUMBER IF ANY ONE WANTS MORE DETAILED QUESTIONS THAT CAN BE ANSWERED DURING THE QUESTION AND ANSWER PERIOD OF THIS
AND, ONCE AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
GARY.
VERY INTERESTING.
THANKS FOR SHARING OAKLAND COUNTY'S EXPERIENCES.
AND PARTICULARLY YOUR LESSONS LEARNED IN OPTIMIZING QUITE A LARGE NUMBER OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
I NOTE THAT WE ARE GETTING A WHOLE LOT OF QUESTIONS HERE WHICH IS EXCELLENT.
THANKS FOR ALL OUR AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION AND WE WILL GET TO THOSE SHORTLY AFTER THE LAST SPEAKER.
OUR THIRD PRESENTER IS FROM THE WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.
MICHAEL FORBES IS THE ITS ENGINEER FOR THE NORTHWEST REGION OF WASH DOT.
HE HAS WORKED FOR 17 YEARS IN TRAFFIC OPERATIONS AND DESIGNS AND LED WASH DOT.
MICHAEL HAS WRITTEN SOFTWARE THAT RUNS THE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT CENTER TMC AND CREATES REAL TIME VIDEO AND GRAPHIC CONTENT FOR THE WASHINGTON STATE TRAVELER INFORMATION WEBSITE.
HIS CURRENT PROJECTS INCLUDE DEPLOYING A NEW CENTRAL SIZED TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM FOR WASH DOT.
BY THE WAY, HE TRACKS STATS FOR REAL TIME TRAFFIC ADAPTIVE CONTROL SYSTEM.
MICHAEL HAS BROUGHT HIGH SPEED COMMUNICATIONS AND VIDEO SURVEILLANCE TO NEW SIGNAL DEPLOYMENTS.
HE PLANS AND DESIGNS CENTER TO CENTER COMMUNICATION LINKS.
MIKE IS A MEMBER OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON NTCIP AND IS CHAIR OF THE CCTV WORKING GROUP.
SORRY FOR THE ACRONYMS BUT THAT IS PART OF THE STANDARDS.
SPECIFIC FIXES FOR WASH DOT SIGNAL CONTROLLER PROCUREMENTS.
MICHAEL DESIGN SKILLS TO LOCAL AGENCIES TO ASSIST IN DEVELOPING TRAFFIC CONTROL CENTERS AND COMMUNICATION CONTROLLERS.
MIKE IS ALSO AN INSTRUCTOR FOR THE ITENTCIP OUTREACH AND EDUCATION TRAINING.
YOU CAN BEGIN WHEN YOU ARE READY.
I WE HEARD ABOUT SYSTEM DEPLOYMENTS.
LARGE SYSTEM DEPLOYMENTS AND CASE STUDIES.
I WANT TO COVER A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER AND WHERE THE INDUSTRY IS HEADED AND THEN I WANT TO SWITCH OVER AND DISCUSS TRAFFIC SIGNAL COMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS
AND I THINK IT IS GOING TO GO PRETTY QUICK AND AT THE END OF THE LAST SLIDE I WILL PRODUCE A WHOLE HOST OF WEBSITES YOU GET MORE INFORMATION.
BY THE WAY, NCTCIP STANDS FOR NATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS TRANSPORTATION FOR IPS PROTOCOL.
OUT OF THE EARLIER CHAOS THE INDUSTRY IS BEGINNING TO COME TOGETHER AND PRODUCE SOME STANDARDS.
YOU HAVE LIKELY HEARD OF THE ADVANCED TRANSPORTATION CONTROLLER, THE ATC.
BRINGING IN THE NEXT GENERATION OF MULTIPURPOSE CONTROLLER THAT HOPEFULLY COMBINES THE BEST OF THE KNEE MA AND 170 WORLDS.
SINCE THE ADVENT OF THE TYPE 170 CONTROLLER AND ITS ABILITY TO ACCENT CUSTOM PROGRAMS THAT HAS BEGIN TO CHANGE.
THE TYPE 1,070 HAS BEEN USE FOD ARE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS.
WITH THE COMING OF MORE ADVANCED COMPUTER POWER AND THE USE OF HIGHER LEVEL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE THE DOOR FOR INNOVATION HAS BEEN OPENED UP.
THE ATC WILL LIKELY BE HARNESSED FOR MANY NEW TRANSPORTATION APPLICATIONS.
HERE IS A SHORT OF A QUICK TIMELINE ON THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER.
WE ARE STARTING OUT HERE IN THE 1940s WITH CONTROLLERS THAT DIDN'T HAVE ANY SOFTWARE.
JUST WHEELS AND DIALS AND IN THE MID '70s WE ENDED UP WITH THE TS1 STANDARD WHICH HAD PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE.
THE TS2 STANDARD ENHANCED THAT WITH MORE POWER AND ALSO CONTINUED THE PROPRIETARY SOFTWARE.
THE TS2 STANDARD CONTINUED IN 1998 WITH NTCIP TS2.
THEN IN THE EARLY 1/9/80s THE 170 FAMILY EMERGED AND THEY CONTAINED PURCHASED SOFTWARE SO TYPICALLY AGENCY PURCHASED SOFTWARE FROM TWO OUTSIDE VENDORS OR WROTE THE SOFTWARE IN-HOUSE.
IN THE EARLY '90s THE ATC FAMILY BEGAN TO DEVELOP WITH THE CAL TRANSPORT WHERE YOU NOW CAN PURCHASE SOFTWARE FROM SIX OUTSIDE VENDORS AND YOU CAN STILL DEVELOP IT IN-HOUSE.
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLERS THEY HAD ELECTROMECHANICAL LEFT-HAND CLOCK WHEELS AND PROGRAMMING PINS.
IN THE EARLY 1970s THERE WAS AN EMERGENCE OF MODERN TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLERS THAT WE KNOW TODAY.
NEW YORK CITY WITH 11,000 TRAFFIC SIGNALS RELIED ON ELECTROMECHANICAL CONTROLLERS BUT TODAY THEY ARE ENGAGED IN DEVELOPING AND PURCHASING TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLERS
THAT ARE STANDARDIZED USING NTCIP AND I WOULD CONSIDER 11,000 SIGNALS, THAT IS A MASSIVE SCALE.
TS1 AND TS2 CONTROLLERS HAVE ALWAYS PROVIDED A PACKAGE DEAL.
YOU GET THE HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE TOGETHER AND FOR MANY USERS A TURN KEY CONTROLLER MAKES FOR EASIER PROCUREMENT.
THE GROWING NEED FOR INTERSECTION SIGNALS AND CENTRALIZED SIGNAL SYSTEMS CAN ON THE BE MET AS LONG AS THE USER KEEPS BUYING SIGNALS FROM THE SAME MANUFACTURER.
WITHOUT A STANDARD B CONNECTOR AND COMMON COMMUNICATIONS PROTOCOL NEMA CONTROLLERS DIDN'T TALK TO OTHER NEMA CONTROLLERS.
NOTE ON THE SLIDE THE TS2 HAS A SERIAL CONNECTION TO THE CABINET EQUIPMENT.
THIS IS BEING CARRIED TO THE NEW ATC STANDARD.
THE 2,070 CONTROLLER OR THE 170 AND 179 CONTROLLERS STARTED OUT IN 1978 WITH THE FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATION AND NEW YORK STATE DOT AND CAL TRANS
AND THEY ISSUED THE TYPE 170 TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER SYSTEM HARDWARE SPECIFICATION AND THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION WAS TITLED IP78 HSH 16.
BY STANDARDIZING THE HARDWARE THE UNITS ALLOWED FOR MULTIPLE SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS INCLUDING INTERSECTION CONTROL, RAM METERING AND ON STREET ACCESS CONTROL.
THESE REDUCED THE MAINTENANCE COSTS AND PROVIDE FOR EASIER INITIAL ACCEPTANCE AND TROUBLE SHOOTING.
YOU TESTED THE HARDWARE WITH A STEP TEST AND ONLY HAD TO TEST YOUR SIGNAL CONTROL PROGRAM ONCE, ONCE YOU WERE COMFORTABLE WITH THE SOFTWARE YOU DON'T HAVE TO CONTINUALLY RETEST WITH EACH REQUIREMENT.
BOTH STATES, NEW YORK AND CAL TRANS, CALIFORNIA PROVIDED THEIR OWN SOFTWARE FOR THE CONTROLLERS AND THIS THERE WERE OUTSIDE VENDORS THAT WE BEGAN TO PROVIDE SOFTWARE FOR THE UNITS.
TODAY WE SEE THE EMERGENCE OF NEW TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER STANDARDS.
THE ATC, BEING DEVELOPED UNDER THE ITS PROGRAM.
BOTH ARE WORKING COOPERATIVELY TO BRING TOGETHER THE BEST CONCEPTS OF NEMA AND 170 WORLD.
THE REAL POWER OF NINE CONCEPT IS THAT EITHER COMMUNITY CAN USE MAKE USE OF THE NEW HARDWARE.
IT IS -- IT SHOULD BE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS.
JUST BRIEFLY THE PROGRAM GOALS.
INTERCHANGEABILITY BETWEEN MANUFACTURERS.
SO THINK PC LIKE IBM PC.
BETTER ADAPTABILITY TO ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY.
THE 170 WASN'T VERY ADAPTABLE AND IN FACT TODAY THE ORIGINAL PROCESSOR FOR THE 170 ISN'T MANUFACTURED ANY MORE.
THE GOALS ARE TO ENSURE INTEROPERABILITY AMONG SYSTEMS AND TO PROVIDE DEFINED CONTROLLER TESTING REQUIREMENTS.
THE ORIGINAL TESTING REQUIREMENTS FOR 170 WERE NOT PART OF THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION.
THIS SLIDE HERE IS BASICALLY EXPLAINING THAT YOU CAN REPLACE THE CONTROLLER OR AND STILL KEEP THE SOFTWARE THAT IS IN IT OR YOU CAN KEEP THE SOFTWARE AND REPLACE THE CONTROLLER -- I'M SORRY.
YOU CAN BASICALLY REPLACE THE CONTROLLER OR THE SOFTWARE.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO THROW AWAY ANYTHING.
WITH A MODULAR CONSTRUCTION YOU CAN BUY AN ADDITIONAL INPUT MODULE.
IF YOU INSTALL MORE DETECTION IN THE CABINET AND DON'T HAVE ENOUGH INPUT YOU CAN BUY AN ADDITIONAL MODULE AND PLUG IT IN THE CONTROLLER AND SAVE THE CONTROLLER.
IF YOU NEED MORE POWER FOR AN ADAPTIVE PROGRAM YOU CAN REPLACE THE CPU MODULE AND ADD MORE MEMORY.
THINK OF THE ATC AS YOUR TRAFFIC CONTROL PC.
HERE IS A WILL LIST OF POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS FOR THE ATC.
THE LAUNDRY LIST THAT WAS THROWN AROUND WITH THE WORKING GROUP OF WHAT IT MIGHT ACTUALLY SERVE.
BUT IT IS PRETTY MUCH EXPECTED THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE UNITS ARE GOING TO BE PUT IN SERVICE AS TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLERS.
THE ATC SYSTEM HAS FOUR MAJOR COMPONENTS.
THE CONTROLLER IS THE MAIN BRAIN OF SYSTEM AND PRETTY MUCH MOST OF THE WORK HAS BEEN CONCENTRATED ON THE CONTROLLER.
THERE IS A CABINET STANDARD WHICH PROVIDES SUPPORT FOR THE OPERATION AS WELL AS PROTECTION FROM THE ELEMENTS.
THE APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE IS A PIECE OF SOFTWARE THAT SEPARATES THE APPLICATION FROM THE OPERATING SYSTEM AND HARDWARE
AND THE APPLICATION ITSELF IS THE ACTUAL PROGRAM THAT MAKES IT A TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER.
CHANGING THE APPLICATION IT COULD BE A VARIABLE MESSAGE CONTROLLER OR ONSTREET MASTER OR SOME OTHER DEVICE.
IT ORIGINATED FROM THE CAL TRAN 2070 GENERATION.
THEN AN EFFORT WAS DONE TO ENHANCE THE ORIGINAL SPECIFICATION AND MAKE IT GENERIC.
SORT OF REMOVING THE CAL TRANS AND CREATING A DOCUMENT THAT ANY STATE COULD USE.
THIS IS WHAT IS BASICALLY THE 2070ATC.
KIND OF THE CAL TRANS UPDATED WITHOUT CAL TRANS IF YOU WILL.
THE NEXT EFFORT WAS UNDERTAKEN TO MAKE THE 2070ATC CONTROLLER COMPATIBLE WITH THE TS2 CONTROLLER SPECIFICATION AND INCLUDE THE SERIAL BUS AND OTHER MOD YOU LAR CPU CONSTRUCTION FEATURES.
THIS IS BASICALLY A THIRD GENERATION OF THE ATC.
THE FOURTH GENERATION IS COMPLETING THE API INTERFACE AND PROVIDING AN OPEN ARCHITECTURE OPERATING SYSTEM AND THAT IS CURRENTLY BEING SPECIFIED AS LINUX TODAY.
NOW, WE NEED TO PUT ATC HARDWARE BEHIND AND BUT WE STILL NEED TO MAKE THE HARDWARE TALK TO EACH OTHER SO THAT IS WHERE NTCIP COMES TO THE RESCUE.
EVEN WITH THE STANDARD CONTROLLER WE NEED SOMETHING TO MAKE THE CONTROLLERS COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER.
NTCIP PROVIDES US WITH DEVICE LEVEL DATA AND COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS.
NTCIP IS BASED ON EXISTING STANDARDS MOST OF THEM COMING FROM THE INTERNET AND THE STACK IS BASED ON THE ISO SEVEN LAYER MODEL.
THE LANG WANG LANGUAGE IS USED FOR THE DATA DESCRIPTION.
IT IS PRETTY WELL ROOTED IN THE INTERNET STANDARDS.
ITS STANDARDS ARE REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT THREE THINGS.
THE DATA ELEMENTS WHICH PRETTY MUCH DEFINE THE MEANING OF THE DATA.
SORT OF WORDS IN THE DICTIONARY AND MESSAGE SETS THAT IDENTIFY ASSOCIATED DATA ELEMENTS FOR TYPICAL APPLICATIONS.
COMMUNICATION STANDARDS THAT DEFINE THE RULES FOR MOVING THE DATA AND ASSOCIATED MESSAGES.
THESE RULES DEFINE HOW THE INFORMATION IS ADDRESSED AND HOW IT IS ROUTED THROUGH THE COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND HOW IT IS PACKAGED.
EVENTUAL WALLY IT GETS DOWN TO THE COMMUNICATIONS ON THE WIRE.
JUST A BRIEF MENTION HERE ON WHERE THIS FITS IN THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE.
THIS IS THE FAMOUS SAUSAGE DIAGRAM.
YOU CAN SEE THE FIXED COMMUNICATIONS.
AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT.
T2 IS BASICALLY DIRECTED U.S. DOT TO MAINTAIN A NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AND SUPPORTING STANDARDS AND PROTOCOLS.
THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE IDENTIFIES SUBSYSTEMS AND ARCHITECTURAL FLOWS.
THE ARCHITECTURE HELPS TO ENSURE THAT NOBODY IS LEFT OUT IN THE ITS PLANNING PROCESS.
SO HERE IS A LITTLE HIGHLIGHT HERE OF WHERE TRAFFIC SIGNALS FIT IN.
ROADWAY TO TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT VIA FIXED COMMUNICATIONS.
WHILE IT IS COMMON TO INTERCONNECT SIGNALS WITH WIRELESS TELEMETRY THE ARCHITECTURE CONSIDERS FIXED COMMUNICATIONS AS FIXED TO DEVICE SO IT IS NOT HARD WIRED OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
SO DON'T CONFUSE FIXED WITH HARD WIRED.
THE STANDARDS ARE PART OF THE NATIONAL ITS ARCHITECTURE AND THE ASC DATA DICTIONARY FROM NTCIP WHICH IS NTCIP1202 IS PRETTY MUCH THE STANDARD THAT COVERS TRAFFIC SIGNALS.
THE 120 IT ENTITLED DEFINITIONS FOR ACTUATED SIGNAL CONTROLLERS DEFINES INDIVIDUAL PIECES OF DATA THAT REPRESENT A MINIMUM DATABASE
AND PROVIDE STATUS AND REPRESENT THE CONTROL INPUTS FOUND ON THE BACK PLANE OF TODAY'S TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROLLER.
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS STILL NEED TO BE SPECIFIED OR REFERENCED TO ANOTHER STANDARD.
SO NCTCIP DOESN'T TELL YOU WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE.
IT TELLS YOU WHAT IS INSIDE HOW IN COMMUNICATES.
YOU STILL NEED TO SPECIFY BY THE USER OR SYSTEM INTEGRATOR AND PUT THAT IN YOUR SPECIFICATION.
DICTIONARIES DEFINE SENTENCING AS WHAT YOU SAY AND PROTOCOLS DEFINE HOW YOU SAY IT.
SO IN ORDER TO PROCURE TRAFFIC SIGNAL DEVICES USING THESE STANDARDS YOU NEED TO USE A SET OF STANDARDS DEFINING VARIOUS DATA FORMATS
SO YOU HAVE TO KNOW HOW THE STUFF IS GOING TO TALK AND YOU CAN GO THROUGH AND FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS GOING TO SAY.
THERE IS SEVERAL NTCIP STANDARDS THAT WOULD BE USED IN DEPLOYING A SIGNAL IN THE FIELD AND THEY INCLUDE THE OBJECT CHIEF DEFINITION STANDARDS AT THE INFORMATION LEVEL
AND THE APPLICATION PROFILE STANDARD AT THE APPLICATION LEVEL AND ANY OTHER APPROPRIATE COMBINATION OF TRANSPORT AND SUBNET LEVEL STANDARDS TO MEET SYSTEM DESIGN.
YOU STILL NEED TO COME OUT AND SAY WHETHER IT HAS AN ETHERNET INTERFACE OR RS232 AND COME OUT WITH THE APPROPRIATE NTCIP 220 IS OR 2202 REQUIREMENTS.
EVERYONE SHOULD BE AWARE THAT NTCIP COMPLIANT IS AN AMBIGUOUS TERM.
NTCIP IS A CONFLICT SET COMPLEX SET IT OF STANDARDS AND A DEVICE MINIMALLY COMPLIANT WITH ONE NTCIP STANDARD COULD CLAIM COMPLIANCE BUT THIS WOULD NOT PROVIDE THE NECESSARILY COMPONENTS.
NTCIP PROVIDES MULTIMANY AT VARIOUS LEVELS IN THE STACK.
WHEN DISCUSSING THE COMPLIANCE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT THE DETAILS IF INTEROPERABILITY IS REQUIRED.
YOU CAN'T SAY I WANT AN NTCIP TRAFFIC CONTROLLER.
YOU NEED TO SPECIFY WHAT REQUIREMENTS YOU HAVE AND THEN TICK PICK THE APPROPRIATE CONFORMANCE GROUPS WIN THE STANDARD.
AND BECAUSE THIS IS ALL COMPLICATED THE NTCIP JOINT COMMITTEE PRODUCED THE NTCIP GUIDE AND MADE THAT AVAILABLE.
IT IS FREE.
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT OFF THE NTCIP WEBSITE ALONG WITH CASE STUDIES, LIBRARIES AND VARIOUS FACT SHEETS.
THE FACT SHEETS ARE KIND ARE INTERESTING AND PROVIDE A HIGH LEVEL OVER NEW OF THE SPECIFIC STAN STANDARDS.
MANY THE STANDARDS ARE FREE FOR DOWNLOAD.
THERE WAS AN EFFORT MADE TO MAKE MOST OF THEM FREE.
AND YOU CAN ALWAYS GET A HOLD OF THE DRAFT STANDARDS IF YOU ARE TRYING TO FOLLOW A STANDARD.
THE DRAFT STANDARDS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN FREE.
I WANT TO POINT OUT HERE THAT THE -- I PUT IN -- IT E.ORG ON HERE TWICE SPECIFICALLY THE WHOLE STATUS OF THE ATC
AND STANDARDS CAN ALL BE DOWNLOADED FROM WWW. ITE.ORG STANDARDS/ATC AND PLEASE HOLD YOUR QUESTIONS TO THE END.
THANKS.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
MICHAEL.
THANKS FOR GIVING US AN OVERVIEW OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL STANDARDS WHICH IS A PRETTY COMPREHENSIVE FIELD WHICH WE CAN SEE AND THERE IS A LOT OF GOOD INFORMATION OUT THERE.
AS WE KNOW THESE STANDARDS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN TRAFFIC SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION EFFORTS SO IT IS VERY TIMELY IN THIS WEBCAST.
OUR FOURTH AND FINAL PRESENTER IS SHELLEY ROW FROM ITE AND SHELLEY'S TALK IS ENTITLED NATIONAL TRAFFIC SIGNAL REPORT CARD.
SHELLEY IS THE ASSOCIATED TECHNICAL DIRECTOR FOR PROGRAMS OR ITE.
THAT THAT POSITION SHELLEY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL TECHNICAL PROGRAMS WITHIN ITE.
SHE WORKS CLOSELY WITH THE 12 TECHNICAL COUNCILS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES FOR ITE MEMBERS AND LEADS THE WORK WITH INTOC WITH WHICH HOSTS THE TALKING OPERATIONS WEN WEB CATS.
THAT OCHS WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR LEADING PROGRAMS ON WOK ZONE TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS,
THE MANUAL ON UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES SECURITY AND TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT AND ROAD WEATHER MANAGEMENT.
PRIOR TO ASSUMING THAT POSITION SHE SERVED IN SEVERAL ROLES IN THE U.S. DOT ITS JOINT PROGRAM OFFICE.
SHELLEY HAS 16 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH FHWO IN THE CALIFORNIA, ARIZONA, GEORGIA AND NORTH CAROLINA DIVISION OFFICES A REPPED IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
SHE BRINGS WITH HER A DIVERSE BACKGROUND IN PLANNING, ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN, SAFETY, OM LAKE EFFECT OPERATIONS AND CONSTRUCTION
PRIOR TO WORKING WITH FHWA SHE PENT FOUR YEARS AS THE HIGHWAY SAFETY CONSTRUCTION TEAM LEADER FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.
SHELLEY, YOU CAN BEGIN WHEN YOU ARE READY.
THANK YOUR, JERRY.
I'M PLEASED TO BE A PART OF THIS WEB SEMINAR TODAY.
I'M GOING TO TAKE JUST A FEW MINUTES AND GIVE SOME HIGH LEVEL COMMENTS ABOUT THE NATIONAL TRAFFIC SIGNAL REPORT CARD.
I'M HOPING THAT SOME OF YOU WHO ARE PARTICIPANTS ARE AWARE OF THIS EFFORT AND HOPEFULLY SOME OF YOU PARTICIPATED WITH US.
THE NATIONAL TRAFFIC SIGNIFICANT UNTIL REPORT CARD WAS SPONSORED BY THE INTOC.
SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS WERE INVOLVED WITH IT.
ITE BEING ONE OF THE SEVERAL.
WE FELT THERE WAS A NEED TO BRING NOR ATTENTION TO THE ISSUE OF TRAFFIC SIGNAL OPERATIONS.
WE HEARD PRESENTATIONS TODAY ABOUT PEOPLE THAT ARE DOING GOOD THINGS.
THAT IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND WE WANTED TO DETERMINE HOW WELL WERE THE SIGNAL SYSTEMS BE BE OPERATED
AND THROUGH THAT INFORMATION BUILD A CASE FOR CALLING MORE ATTENTION TO SIGNAL OPERATIONS AND THE NEED FOR FURTHER INVESTMENTS
AND ALSO THE SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL THAT WAS USED TO PROVIDE THE BENCHMARKING TOOL THAT WITH CAN BE USED BY AGENCIES REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT THEY CHOSE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE REPORT CARD.
WE STARTED THE EFFORT WITH A SELF-ASSESSMENT TOOL.
THAT TOOL WAS DISTRIBUTED IN AUGUST OF 2004 BY QUITE A NUMBER OF ASSOCIATIONS.
IT IS CURRENTLY STILL AVAILABLE ON THE ITE WEBSITE AND IS APPROPRIATE FOR USE AT ANY TIME.
IT CONSISTED OF SIX TOPIC AREAS THAT YOU SEE THERE ON THE SCREEN.
AND ALL OF THE RESPONSES WE MADE A PLEDGE THAT ALL OF THE RESPONSES THAT WE GOT IN WOULD BE COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS AND THEY ARE
AS WE WRITE THE RESULTS FROM WHAT WE HEARD THERE ARE NO INDIVIDUAL RESULTS BEING REPORTED.
IT IS A NATIONAL VIEW OF THE SIGNAL OPERATION PICTURE.
WE WERE OVERWHELMED WITH RESPONSES.
WE HOPED TO GET 100.
AND WE GOT 378.
WE HAVE REPRESENTATION ACROSS 49 OF THE 50 STATES.
YOU CAN SEE THE NUMBER OF CITIES AND COUNTIES.
WE ALSO TABULATED DISTRIBUTION AMONG POPULATION AND SIGNAL SYSTEM SIZES AND AGAIN WE GOT A GOOD DISTRIBUTION ALL ACROSS THE BOARD.
THE NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS THAT WE GOT AND THE THE NUMBER OF SIGNALS THAT THEY OWN REPRESENT A THIRD OF THE SIGNALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
THAT IS ALSO GOING TO BE THE SUBJECT OF ANOTHER WEB SEMINAR SO YOU CAN SIGN UP AND FOLLOW THAT PRESENTATION FROM YOUR DESKS MUCH AS YOU ARE DOING TODAY.
JUST A COUPLE OF HIGHLIGHTS.
IN THE AREA OF PROACTIVE MANAGEMENT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HEARD WAS 68 PERCENT OF THE RESPONDENTS HAVE NO DOCUMENTED MANAGEMENT PLAN OR THEY MANAGE THEIR SIGNAL SYSTEMS ON AN AD HOC BASIS.
IN THE COORDINATED OPERATIONS SECTION MORE THAN 50 PERCENT DO NOT CONDUCT TIMING REVIEWS EVERY 3-5 YEARS
AND AGAIN IT HELPS PAINT THAT PICTURE THAT WE KIND OF DOING AN AD HOC MANAGEMENT TILE BECAUSE OF OUR RESOURCE LIMITATIONS.
INDIVIDUAL OPERATIONS THIS IS THE HIGHEST SCORING SECTION.
AND YET WE SAW 75 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS WHO HAVE NO DOCUMENTED PROCESS TO TRIGGER TIMING REVIEWS.
IN THE AREA OF DETECTORS ONE OF THE LOWER SCORING SECTIONS ABOUT A THIRD OF OF THE RESPONDENTS HAVE NO REGULAR PROCESS FOR COLLECTING DATA FOR TIMING PURPOSES.
AND FINALLY IN THE MAINTENANCE SECTION THE PICTURE THAT WE SEE IS THAT AGENCIES ARE OPERATING WITH REALLY MINIMAL STAFFING.
OVERALL I THINK SOME OF THE BIG LESSONS THAT WE SEE COMING OUT OF THE SELF-ASSESSMENT RESULTS IS THAT OUR NATION IN FACT DOES NOT WELL SUPPORT OUR SIGNAL OPERATIONS.
IT FORCES AGENCIES TO MANAGE SIGNAL SYSTEMS BY FIGHTING FIRES RATHER THAN BEING ABLE TO PROACTIVELY MANAGE THE SYSTEMS.
AND THIS -- THAT IS A FUNCTION OF RESOURCE LIMITATIONS BY AND LARGE.
AND YET, WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE SEE FROM ALL OF THE DATA ARE THAT SMALL INVESTMENTS IN SIGNAL SYSTEMS HAVE BIG PAYOFFS.
WE SEE RESULTS OF 40 TO ONE BENEFIT COSTS AND HIGHER.
CLEARLY THE MESSAGE IS THAT WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO BETTER IF WE HAVE SOME RESOURCES TO PUT AGAINST THE PROBLEM.
WE TRIED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION OF WELL, IF WE NEED MORE RESOURCES HOW MUCH DO WE NEED?
AND WE RAN P. SOME NUMBERS BASED ON AVERAGE FIGURES THAT WE HAVE FOR VARIOUS STUDIES AND YOU CAN SEE WHAT WE USED TO MAKE ESTIMATES.
THE NEED FOR SIGNAL HARDWARE UPDATES.
THE NEED FOR TIMING UPDATES AND THE NEED TORE STAFFING TO MAINTAIN THOSE SIGNAL SYSTEMS AND CONVERTED THE STAFF NUMBERS TO DOLLARS AND IT COMES OUT TO ROUGHLY A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
WE SPEND A LITTLE OVER OH $100 BILLION A YEAR IN STATE, FEDERAL AND LOCAL DOLLARS FOR HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION.
SO IF WE COULD ONLY GET 1 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL THAT IS EXPENDED WE BELIEVE THAT WE COULD DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE THE OPERATION OF OUR SIGNAL SYSTEMS.
IF WE HAD THOSE RESOURCES WHERE WE SAW OUR SIGNAL SYSTEMS SCORING AT A HIGH LEVEL THE NUMBER THAT WE SEE ARE THAT DELAY COULD INCREASE BY ANYWHERE FROM 15-20 PERCENT.
TRAVEL TIME REDUCTIONS UP TO 25 PERCENT.
EMISSION REDUCTIONS UP TO 22 PERCENT.
AND FUEL CONSUMPTION REDUCTIONS UP TO 10 PERCENT.
THERE ARE SOME IMPORTANT NEXT STEPS AND I HOPE THAT YOU ALL WILL THINK ABOUT THIS AND BRING CAREFUL ATTENTION TO THIS.
WE ARE AT THIS POINT GOING TO RELEASE SOME MORE DETAILED RESULTS AT THE ITE TECHNICAL CONFERENCE AND CATEGORY IN CATHY WILL GO INTO MORE DETAIL ABOUT THE RESULTS.
TOMORROW -- NO, NEXT WEEK WE ARE GOING TO START SENDING E-MAILS TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO SEND US SCORES AND WE WILL SEND THE SCORES BACK OUT TO YOU
BECAUSE WE HAVE GOTTEN WORD THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T KEEP THEM AND ALSO SHOW HOW THOSE SCORES TRANSLATE TO SOMETHING EQUIVALENT TO THE NATIONAL SCORES
FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO SENT US THEIR SCORES YOU WILL RECEIVE PRESS PACKAGES IN MARCH.
WE ARE ENCOURAGING EVERYONE TO CONDUCT YOUR OWN PRESS EVENT.
WE WILL CONDUCT A NATIONAL PRESS EVENT IN MID APRIL.
WE FULLY EXPECT TO GET THE ATTENTION OF THE NATIONAL PRESS BECAUSE WE WILL ONLY BE RELEASED NATIONAL SCORES WE WILL BE DIRECTING ALL PRESIDENT INQUIRIES AT THE LOCAL LEVEL TO LOCAL AGENCIES.
SO IT IS QUITE LIKELY THAT YOU ALL WILL GET CALLS AND GET QUESTIONS ON THIS.
THE BEST THING TO DO IS TO BE PREPARED FOR THOSE QUESTIONS TO KNOW WHAT YOUR SCORES ARE.
TO HAVE YOUR STORY PREPARED AND TO BE ABLE TO TELL YOUR STORY IN A WAY THAT MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR AREA AND TO POSITION YOURSELVES TO ARGUE YOUR CASE,
WHATEVER THAT CASE MAY BE WHETHER IT IS FOR MORE RESOURCE IS OR WHATEVER THE SITUATION IS.
SO WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW TO START PREPARING.
IF YOU PARTICIPATED WE WOULD SUGGEST THAT YOU LOOK AT YOUR SCORE.
LOOK AT HOW YOU KIND OF STACKED UP AGAINST THE NATIONAL SCORE.
START TALKING TO YOUR AGENCIES PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER.
TALK TO THEM AND YOUR MANAGEMENT AND START THINKING ABOUT HOW TO PREPARE LOCALLY FOR THE NATIONAL PRESS EVENT.
AND WE WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO CONDUCT A LOCAL PRESS EVENT.
AGAIN, WE WILL BE SENDING OUT MORE INFORMATION AND MORE MATERIALS TO HELP YOU BE PREPARED.
WE WILL SEND THAT OUT IN MARCH.
IF YOU DID NOT COMPLETE A SELF-ASSESSMENT YOU CAN STILL PREPARE FOR THE NATIONAL PRESS EVENT.
THE SELF-ASSESSMENT IS STILL AVAILABLE ON THE ITE WEBSITE.
THERE IS NO REASON THAT YOU CAN'T DOWNLOAD NOW AND SELF-COMPETITOR AND THEN USE THAT INFORMATION FOR THE SELF-SCORE
AND USE THAT INFORMATION FOR THE LOCAL PRESS EVENT OR LOOK AT THE NATIONAL SCORE AND BASELINE INTEREST THAT AND SAY YOU ARE ABOUT PROBABLY AROUND THE NATIONAL AVERAGE.
EITHER WAY YOU ARE STILL IN A POSITION AND WE WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE IN A POSITION TO CONDUCT YOUR OWN PRESS EVENT AT A MINIMUM
TO BE PREPARED TO HAVE YOUR STORY READY TO TELL THE PRESS WHEN THEY CALL.
AND THAT IS IT FOR NOW.
WE WILL HAVE MORE COMING AND AGAIN YOU CAN JOIN ON A WEBCAST AS PART OF THE IT TELECONFERENCE ANY TECHNICAL CONFERENCE NEXT MONDAY.
THAT'S IT, JERRY.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
IN FACT, LET ME GIVE YOU A LITTLE.
LET ME GIVE THE AUDIENCE MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEBCAST.
IT IS A SPECIAL WEBCAST OF THE SUB SESSION TWO FROM THE ITE TECHNICAL CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA.
YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR THIS THROUGH THE NORMAL TALKING OPERATIONS WEBSITE REGISTRATION SITE WHICH IS TALKING OPERATIONS .WEBEX.COM THIS IS 2-3:30PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME.
THERE IS A LIMITED NUMBER OF QUOTE UNQUOTE SEATS AVAILABLE TO I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU SIGN UP FOLLOWING THIS WEBCAST.
OKAY.
WE HAD A LOT OF EXCELLENT QUESTIONS HERE AND SO WE WILL JUST SEE HOW THE DIALOGUE GOES HERE.
LET ME START OUT WITH THE VERY FIRST QUESTION POSTED WAS FOR TOM DANCY, TOM, THE QUESTION WAS WHO PAYS FOR THE O AND M OF THE SIGNAL SYSTEMS, THE STATE DOT OR CITY OR COMBINATION THERE OF.
AND WHO DO THE PLOAM EMPLOYEES WORK FOR, THE CITY OR THE DOT?
A THAT IS GREAT QUESTION.
AS FAR AS THE FUNDING GOES AS I MENTIONED BEFORE WE KEEP THE MAINTENANCE SEPARATE AS FAR AS THE FIELD DEVICES IN THE FIELD.
AS FAR AS THE SIGNIFICANT IT SIGNAL SYSTEM GOES WE PAY FOR THOSE INDIVIDUALLY BY AGENCY BASED UPON WHICH ROUTE IT IS LOCATE 2D.
LOCATED IN.
AS FAR AS THE TCS ITSELF WE TRY TO SHARE THE COST OF THOSE.
ANYTHING CENTRALIZED OPERATIONS RELATED TYPICALLY WOULD GET SHARED BETWEEN THE TWO AGENCIES AND THEN ANYTHING THAT IS ACTUALLY DEPLOYED IN THE FIELD WOULD BE PAID FOR SEPARATELY.
OKAY.
LET ME ASK ONE OF GARY HERE.
GARY, THE QUESTION WAS HOW TO YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ACTUATED FUNCTIONS OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS WITHOUT MESSING UP SIGNAL PROGRESSION?
AND ANYBODY CAN TIME IN ON THAT BUT I THINK IT WAS ASKED DURING GARY'S PRESENTATION?
WELL, FOR US IN OAKLAND COUNTY I CHUCKLE A LITTLE BIT BECAUSE YOUR ADAPTIVE SYSTEM IS WHERE MOST OF OUR DETECTION IS
SO ON OUR OTHER 900 SIGNALS WE HARDLY HAVE ANY SO IT IS NOT CRITICAL TO THE PROGRESSION FOR US.
WE TYPICALLY HAVE ALL OF OUR SIDE STREET APPROACHES ACTUATED AS WELL AS THE LEFT TURN APPROACHES ON THE MAIN STREET
AND AS I MENTIONED BEFORE IN THE PRESENTATION THAT IS WHERE IT IS CRITICAL FOR US TO DEFINE THE PERMISSIVE PERIODS WITHIN THE OPERATIONS WITH A SEMI ACTUATED OR COORDINATED ACTUATED OPERATION.
IT BASICALLY ALLOWS FOR A GUARANTEED MINIMUM GREEN TIME FOR THE COORDINATED PHASES THAT THAT IS A GUARANTEED TIME IN EVERY CYCLE
THAT WILL YOU KNOW BETWEEN THIS POINT OF TIME IN YOUR CYCLE AND THIS OTHER POINT OF TIME IN YOUR CYCLE YOU WILL GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL GIVE THE COORDINATED PHASE THE GREEN.
OTHERWISE WE SERVE THE SIDE STREETS IN THE ORDER THAT IS SET UP AND ADDITIONAL GREEN TIME BASED ON THE DETECTORS THAT ARE WORKING WILL JUST GO BACK TO THE COORDINATED PHASES
BUT YOU KNOW THAT TYPICALLY THAT IS WHERE WE HAD A LOT OF OUR MISTAKES WITH OUR PROGRAMMING, YOU KNOW, SOME THINGS THAT WE REALIZED HAS BEEN WHERE WE ALLOWED SIDE STREETS TO BE DETECTED.
WE DISCOVERED SOMETHING UNIQUE AND HAPPENING WHERE THE ENTIRE SIDE STREET WAS GETTING SKIPPED IN CYCLE AND WE FOUND IT WAS DUE TO WHERE WE HAD THE PERMISSIVE PERIOD SET UP IN THE LAGGING LEFT TURN
IF JUST BEFORE THE END OF THE CYCLE A VEHICLE WAS DETECTED IN THAT LAGGING LEFT TURN PHASE IT WOULD GO AHEAD AND SERVE THE MINIMUM GREEN TIME
AND GO AHEAD AND SERVE THAT AND EAT INTO THE NEXT CYCLE AND WOULDN'T SERVE THE SIDE STREET.
IT CAN BE COMPLICATED BUT I THINK THAT IS PROBABLY THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO OPERATE THE SYSTEM.
SEE IF LAUREL HAS ANYTHING TO ADD TO THAT.
THAT IS WE FOUND THAT YOU HAVE TO ALLOW A LITTLE BIT OF ACTUATION BUT IT DOESN'T HURT PROGRESSION AS LONG AS YOU KEEP THAT IN MIND
AND ALSO COMES OUT WHEN YOU DO FIELD REVIEWS AND KNOW THAT YOU HAVE MAKE ADJUSTMENTS IF YOU SEE IT BEING A CONSISTENT PROBLEM.
WE HAD A QUESTION POP UP HERE.
I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY RELATED MORE TO GARY'S RESPONSE TO THAT QUESTION.
GARY, THE QUESTION WAS HAVE YOU FOUND ADAPTIVE SIGNAL SYSTEMS TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE THAN SIGNAL PROGRAMMING.
I THINK THAT IS A LITTLE LIKE RELIGIOUS QUESTION HERE ON THE FORUM.
WANT TO GIVE THAT A TRY?
AS A BIG SUPPORTER OF ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS I WOULD SAY YES ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET A LOT MORE OUT OF.
IT IS NOT A ONE SIZE FITS ALL.
IN CERTAIN LOCATIONS THE VOLUMES DON'T EXIST OR THE CHANGES IN FLOWS OR WARRANTS DOES REQUIRE THE TYPE OF SYSTEM
BUT THE SQUEEZE ALONG THE GUEST CORRIDORS AND THE UNUSUAL DEMANDS THE ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS WE FOUND TO BE EFFECTIVE.
MICHAEL LET ME ASK YOU THAT QUESTION.
PUTTING ON YOUR HAT WORKING ON THE RT TRAX DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.
ANY THOUGHTS ON THAT ONE?
MICHAEL ARE YOU THERE?
I'M SORRY.
ASK THAT AGAIN.
I MISSED THAT.
I'M SORRY.
THE QUESTION IS HAVE YOU FOUND ADAPTIVE SIGNAL SYSTEMS TO MORE -- I KNOW YOU ARE INVOLVED IN THE RT TRAX PROJECT.
WE ACTUALLY SAW ENOUGH BENEFIT IN THE FIRST DEPLOYMENT OF ROADS TO ALLOW US TO GO BACK AND GET SOME ADDITIONAL PROGRAMMING CHANGES WHICH WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED THEM YET.
SUPPOSED TO BE THIS SPRING AND HAD TO DEAL WITH LEFT-HAND TURNING PHASES THAT ROADS COULDN'T HANDLE AND
BUT THE INITIAL ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT THERE WAS ENOUGH BENEFIT THERE FOR US TO GO BACK IN AND TRY TO FINISH THAT UP, FIX IT UP.
OKAY.
LET ME STAY WITH YOU FOR A SECOND MICHAEL.
THERE WAS A QUESTION HERE ARE THE ATC2070ATC AND RELEVANT NTCIP STANDARDS FULLY APPROVED AND ADOPTED OR STILL IN DRAFT?
I KNOW THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENT STANDARDS AND IN VARIOUS STANDARDS BUT PARTICULARLY THE ATC STANDARDS WHERE ARE THEY AT NOW?
THE 2070ATC HAS BEEN ADOPTED SO THAT IS AVAILABLE FROM THE WEBSITE THAT I PUT UP THERE.
AVAILABLE FREE FOR DOWNLOADS?
YE THE STANDARDS SLASH STANDARDS SLASH ATC AND THE CABINET STANDARD IS ALSO APPROVED.
THERE IS A 2070ATC CABINET STANDARD THAT IS OUT THERE.
AND THERE IS A COUPLE MORE.
THERE IS WHAT THEY ARE CALLING REVISION FIVE THAT IS STILL OUT FOR DRAFT AND THERE IS STILL SOME ISSUES WITH SOME OF THE NEMA COMPANIES
THAT ARE PROTESTING SOME ASPECTS OF THE STANDARD FOR THE NEXT RELEASE SO THAT HAS KIND OF DELAYED A FEW THINGS BUT ALL IN ALL THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF IT THAT HAS BEEN APPROVED.
WHICH WEBSITE WOULD YOU SAY WOULD BE THE MOST REAL TIME IN TERMS OF FINDING OUT THE STATUS OF THOSE STANDARDS?
I WOULD GO TO WWW.ITE.ORG SLASH STANDARDS SLASH ATC.
SINCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ITE.
SHELLEY THERE WAS A QUESTION FOR YOU.
WHERE CAN WE SEE THE ENTIRE LIST OF SELF-ASSESSMENTS YOU TALKED ABOUT?
THE EASY ANSWER IS YOU CAN'T.
AS I MENTIONED WE HAD OVER 37 RESPONSES AND -- 370 RESPONSES AND WE PLEDGED THAT THEY WOULD BE COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS.
WE ARE NOT SHARING THOSE WITH ANY ONE.
IT IS UP TO EACH INDIVIDUAL JURISDICTION WHETHER OR NOT THEY CHOOSE TO RELEASE THEIR OWN SCORES.
GOTCHA.
LET ME JUMP BACK TO IT TOM.
TOM WE HAD WHAT MIGHT BE CALL AN INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES QUESTION.
SEVERAL DURING YOUR PRESENTATION.
ONE IS WHAT ROLE IF ANY DOES THE MPO, THE METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION IN SPRINGFIELD PLAY IN YOUR PROGRAM?
LAUREL, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE THAT?
RIGHT NOW OUR CENTER AND OUR PROGRAM STARTED BEFORE WE ACTUALLY HAD AN MPO.
WE ARE NOW STARTING TO BRING THEM IN MORE AND MORE.
THEY ARE KIND OF BEING STILL ESTABLISHED AND I SEE THEM BEING A PART OF THIS PROCESS IN THE FUTURE
BECAUSE THAT IS WHERE OUR FUNDING IF WE GO FOR BIGGER PROJECTS IS GOING TO HAVE TO COME SLEW THIS SOME ASPECTS.
RIGHT NOW THEY ARE NOT A BIG PART BUT I CAN SEE THEM BECOMING BIGGER AS WE PROGRESS.
EXCELLENT.
LET ME KEEP IT THERE, LAUREL.
THE QUESTION CAME UP HERE LAUREL AND TOM, DO YOU HAVE A COPY OF THE FORMAL AGREEMENT YOU USE TO SHARE THE CONTROLLER FUNCTIONS FAND YOU DO WE WOULD BE GLAD TO MAKE IT AVAILABLE FROM THE ARCHIVE SITE?
IS THERE A FORMAL OR WRITTEN AGREEMENT.
RIGHT NOW WE DON'T HAVE A FORMAL AGREEMENT AS FAR AS THE OPERATIONS FOR THE SYSTEM ITSELF.
IT IS SOMETHING WE CONTINUED TO DEVELOP AS WE LOOK AT FUTURE PERMITS AND DEVELOPING THE CONCEPTS FOR THE ENTIRE ATMV AND FOR THE TMC ITSELF
BUT AT THIS POINT WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET BY ON A MORE LIKE A GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT AND A HANDSHAKE AND THAT HAS WORKED FAIRLY WELL FOR US UP TO THIS POINT.
OKAY.
THIS WAS KIND OF A GENERAL QUESTION A NUMBER OF PEOPLE ASKED ABOUT VIDEO DETECTION.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH VIDEO DETECTION.
GARY, I KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF VIDEO DETECTION AS PART OF THE SCAT SYSTEM.
ANY GENERAL COMMENTS AND TOM AND LAUREL YOU MIGHT COMMENT ON THAT AS WELL?
IT THE PREDOMINANTLY USED IN THE SCAT SYSTEM.
IN THE NORTHERN CLIMATE AND THE NUMBER OF DETECTIONS THOSE ARE TALKING ABOUT OVER 6,000 IN OUR SYSTEM WE COULD JUST NEVER MAINTAIN LOOPS UP HERE.
WE CERTAINLY IF YOU WANT -- IT IS CERTAINLY VIDEO IS NOT AS GOOD AS LOOP FOR STRICT ACCURACY BUT IN A SYSTEM OUR SIZE THERE IS NO WAY, WE WOULD BE CRIPPLED BY LOOPS THAT THE POINT.
WE NEED TO MAINTAIN THEM ALL YEAR ONLY.
WE HAD GOOD SUCCESS WITH USING IT.
IT WORKED WELL FOR US IN OUR TYPE OF APPLICATION AND AT THIS POINT WE WILL CONTINUE TO USE IT.
RIGHT NOW WE HAVE USED VARIOUS LEVELS OF THE AUTO SCOPE SYSTEMS THAT THE POINT IN TIME AND WHILE WE TRIED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT BRANDS FOR OUR SYSTEM APPLICATION
THE OTHERS JUST HAVEN'T WORKED QUITE AS WELL AND KEEPING THE ONE SYSTEM MAKES IT EASIER TO MAINTAIN AND OPERATE FOR US.
YOU USE ONE BRAND.
YEAH.
OKAY.
LET ME OPEN THAT QUESTION UP TO EITHER TOM AND LAUREL OR TO MICHAEL.
ANY EXPERIENCE IN THE VIDEO DETECTION YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT ON?
I CAN TOSS IN HERE THAT WHEN YOU SAY ADAPTIVE TYPICALLY THAT MEANS DATA HUNGRY AND DATA HUNGRY MEANS GO COUNT THEM
AND FOR OUR PROJECT WE USED TRAFFIC AND WE USED AUTO SCOPE AROUND THE STATE BUT I AGREE WITH THE PREVIOUS COMMENT THAT EVENTUALLY YOU CAN'T MAINTAIN ALL OF THE LOOPS YOU NEED.
WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE IN MISSOURI, TOM AND LAUREL?
WE HAVE USED A COMBINATION OF IN OUR SYSTEM A COMBINATION OF VIDEO AND LOOP DETECTION AND PROBABLY WOULD CONCUR AS FAR AS AT LEAST OUR EXPERIENCE ON ACCURACY AND AS FAR AS PROBABLY
LEANING MORE TOWARD THE LOOPS BUT THE VIDEO CERTAINLY HAS ITS ADVANTAGES PARTICULARLY WHERE WE HAVE GOT MAJOR INTERSECTIONS ALLOWS US A LOT MORE FLEXIBILITY WITH SETTING UP THE SYSTEM DETECTORS
AND WHEN WE HAVE CONSTRUCTION GOING AND ROAD CLOSURES FOR ANY EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME ALLOWS US FLEXIBILITY FOR MOVE OF THE DETECTION ROUND.
WE WE HAVE ROAD RESURFACING ON WE DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE GRINDERS EATING UP THE LOOPS AND CONTINUE TO HAVE DETECTION WITH THE VIDEO.
ONE BRAND, AUTO SCOPE ALSO IN THIS AREA.
MICHAEL WE HAD AN INTERESTING THREAD OF DISCUSSION AMONG FOLKS ABOUT CABINET SIZES.
I HAD A CLIENT ONCE THAT THERE WAS A CITY MAG I BELIEVE THAT DENIED NOT TO UPGRADE THE ELECTROMECHANICAL CONTROLLERS
BECAUSE THE CABINETS FOR THE NEW ONES ARE UGLY AND BIG AND NOT SUITABLE TO URBAN AREA.
ANY ADVICE EVEN THIS.
THE TRAFFIC JAMS ARE UGLY AND BIG, TOO AND IF YOU HAVE PLENTY OF NOSE MAYBE THOSE MAYBE THAT SLIGHTLY LARGER CABINET IS NOT GOING TO BE AN ISSUE.
SOMEONE SAID THAT SANTA FE HAS A PROGRAM FOR A LOCAL ARTIST TO USE THE CABINETS AS CANVAS FOR THEIR ARTWORK.
WE ARE FINDING IN OUR AREA THE VIDEO DETECTION EQUIPMENT AND FIBER OPTICS ARE TAKING UP A LOT OF SPACE.
SO WE ARE KIND OF INTERNALLY WITHIN OUR ORGANIZATION PUSHING TO MORE OF A DOUBLE WIDE CABINET.
OKAY.
BACK TO TOM.
TOM, YOU MENTIONED USING SOFTWARE WHEN RUNNING TRAVEL TIMES AND HELPED IN TRANSLATING THE TRAVEL RUN TIMES.
CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THIS.
THE ACTUAL SOFTWARE IS PART OF PC TRAVEL AND WE USE THE TYPICAL COUNTERS AND THEN HOOK THAT UP WITH AN INTERFACE WITH THE COMPUTER IN THE VEHICLE
AND THAT GATHERS THE DATA AS YOU DRIVE ALONG AND THE SOFTWARE IS ACTUALLY ON THE COUNTER ITSELF.
LAUREL MIGHT BE ABLE TO GIVE MORE INFORMATION.
TYPICALLY THAT IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN RUNNING BUT THERE IS ALSO WE ARE ABOUT TO UPGRADE TO ANOTHER SOFTWARE TO DO TIME SPACE DIAGRAMS
WHICH ALSO HAS THE ABILITY WITH THE GPS UNIT TO GO OUT AND RUN YOUR TRAVEL TIMES AND MAP IT DIRECTLY TO YOUR DIAGRAMS SO THERE IS SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAYS THAT YOU CAN ACCOMPLISH THIS
AND YOU JUST HAVE TO KIND OF -- RIGHT NOW WE ARE USING PC TRAVEL WITH THE JAYMAR DOWNTOWN COUNTERS.
THESE ARE QUESTIONS THAT I THINK THAT I WOULD ENCOURAGE ANY SPEAKER TO CHIME IN ON.
INTERESTING QUESTION.
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED OPTIMIZING NETWORK TIMINGS INSTEAD OF OPTIMIZING A SERIES OF ARTERIALS?
WELL, YES, AND NO.
I MEAN WE DEFINITELY WOULD TAKE A LOOK AT I THINK A SMALLER SUBSYSTEM.
I'M NOT SURE WE EVER REALLY TRIED TO DO THAT FOR THE ENTIRE ARTERIAL GRID FOR THE ENTIRE CITY BUT CERTAINLY WHEN WE GET DOWN IN THE CBD AREA
WE WILL CERTAINLY TRY TO SEE WHAT TYPE OF NETWORK SETTINGS WE WOULD GET OUT OF THAT.
BUT INEVITABLY WE FOUND THAT WE END UP HAVING TO GO BACK AND VERIFY THE OUTPUT FOR EACH ONE OF THE ROUTES AND ENDED UP GOING THROUGH THE SAME PROCESS WE WOULD
JUST AS I EXPLAINED WHETHER WE TRIED TO OPTIMIZE THE WHOLE SYSTEM TOGETHER OR DOING THAT ONE ROUTE AT A TIME.
I'M NOT SURE THAT EXPLAINS THE QUESTION ENTIRELY BUT, YES, I GUESS FOR A SMALLER AREA WE HAVE OPTIMIZED THE WHOLE NETWORK.
BUT WE DON'T SEE THAT APPLYING OR AT LEAST IT HASN'T BEEN OUR EXPERIENCE THAT IT HAS WORKED REAL WELL FOR THE ENTIRE CITY.
GARY, DOES THAT GENTLEMEN QUESTION RESONATE WITH YOU?
I SUPPOSE IT MIGHT BE DIFFERENT WHETHER YOU ARE IN THE SCATS AREA OR NOT.
WE GENERALLY DID CORRIDORS BUT IN AREAS WHERE THERE WAS NOT PREDOMINANT MOVEMENT WHERE WE COULDN'T DEFINE A CORRIDOR THAT WAS REALLY WE WANTED TO FAVOR FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER
WE KIND OF GROUPED THEM TOGETHER AND LET SYNCHRO COME UP WITH THE BEST PLANS SINCE THERE WASN'T A LOT OF TRAFFIC.
WE LET SYNCHRO COME UP WITH THE VARIOUS PERMEATIONS.
WE RECENTLY HAD A QUESTION OPENED ON THE CHAT AREA.
AFTER THE RETIMING DID YOU NOTICE A REDUCTION IN RED LIGHT RUNNING?
THAT IS AN INTERESTING QUESTION.
OR DO YOU EVEN HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO REALLY DETECT ACCURATELY THE NUMBER OF RED LIGHT NUMBERS?
IN OAKLAND COUNTY I DON'T HAVE ANY DATA TO BACK IT UP BUT IT APPEARS THAT IT SEEMS TO BE LESS WHEN YOU ARE OUT THERE WATCHING IT.
I CONTRIBUTE THAT ALLOT TO THE WAY WE CHANGED THE CLEARANCE INTERVALS.
WE I THINK THERE CERTAINLY IS LESS VEHICLES IN THE INTERSECTION WHEN THE OPPOSING TURNS GREEN NOW AND THIS IS JUST FROM A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OUT THERE SINCE WE CHANGED.
HOW ABOUT THE MISSOURI FOLKS?
ANY EXPERIENCE THERE?
NOT SOMETHING --
NOT SOMETHING THAT YOU MEASURE.
THAT WE CAN REALLY UNLESS WE ARE OUT THERE WASHING WE REALLY HAVE -- WATCHING WE REALLY HAVE NO DATA TO BACK IT UP.
I AGREE WITH WHAT HE SAID ABOUT IT CERTAINLY CHANGES THE CLEARANCE INTERVAL TIMING AND APPEARS TO HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE
AND THAT IS PROBABLY MORE SO WHERE WE HAVE BEEN MORE COG COGNIZANT OF TRYING TO OBSERVE THE RED LIGHT RUNNING PROBABLY MORE SO THAN JUST CHANGING THE COORDINATION TIMING.
OKAY.
WE HAD A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS ABOUT STAFFING TO DO SOME OF THE SIGNAL TIMING CHANGES.
ONE QUESTION WAS HOW MANY TECHNICIANS DO YOU HAVE PER TRAFFIC ENGINEER AND DO THE TECHNICIANS REPORT TO THE TRAFFIC ENGINEERS AND FROM THE SAME PERSON HOW MANY INTERSECTIONS PER TECHNICIAN?
ANY RULES OF THUMB THERE THAT -- THAT ANYBODY CAN MENTION?
FOR THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD THE 139 SIGNALS WE MAINTAIN WE HAVE SIX SIGNAL MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS AND REALLY WE HAVE TWO OF THE SIX
PRIMARILY DEDICATING ONE TO OUR VIDEO FOR OUR CC TV SYSTEM AND THE OTHER PRIMARILY TO THE FIBER OPTIC NETWORKING AND THAT LEAVES US WITH ABOUT FOUR.
I GUESS IF YOU WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT MAYBE FOUR OR SIX TECHNICIANS YOU ARE ABOUT ONE TECHNICIAN FOR EVERY 23-35 SIGNALS AT LEAST FOR THE CITY.
AND FOR US OUR -- WE HAVE OUR GROUP OF TECH TECHNICIANS BUT THEY ARE NOT ONLY THE CITY OF SPRINGFIELD THEY ARE A 12 COUNTY DISTRICT SO WE ARE A LITTLE D PROBABLY PUSHING 40-45 SIGNALS PER TECH.
GARY, HOW ABOUT YOU IN OAKLAND COUNTY?
I GUESS WE WIN OR LOSE.
WE ARE UP CLOSER TO 60, I GUESS.
I WOULD SAY PER TECHNICIAN IN THE FIELD.
SIXTY SIGNALS.
OKAY.
HAD A VERY INTERESTING QUESTION POSTED I WOULD LIKE TO OPEN TO ANYBODY THAT OUR SYSTEM HAS NOT HAD REVIEW OF TIMING OR ADJUSTMENTS IN YEAR YEARS.
WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND WE DO FIRST AND PUNT IS NOT A SUITABLE ANSWER.
WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP? SILENCE.
YEAH.
LAUREL, IN I THOUGHT -- ANY THOUGHTS?
WELL, I MEAN YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO GET RECENT DATA.
IF TRAFFIC COUNTS HAVEN'T BEEN DONE.
FOR US AT LEAST THAT IS WHERE IT STARTS.
YOU NEED TO KNOW CURRENTLY WHAT YOUR VOLUMES ARE USING YOUR SYSTEM AND THEN FROM THERE KIND OF LIKE TOM PRESENTED YOU JUST START MODELLING AND PUTTING IT IN
AND SEEING WHAT IT GOING TO WORK BEST BUT YOU HAVE GOT TO START WITH GOOD DATA.
I THINK THERE HAS BEEN PROBABLY, YOU KNOW, I HAVE SEEN SOME PRESENTATIONS THAT HAVE PRESENTED REALLY GOOD INFORMATION ON DEVELOPING TIMING ON A BUDGET
AND AS I MENTIONED IN THE PREPARATION IT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THAT YOU NEED TO GET COUNTS AT EVERY SINGLE INTERSECTION
BUT I THINK EVERYONE HAS A GOOD IDEA AS TO WHICH LOCATIONS ARE CRITICAL FOR THEIR SYSTEM AND THAT MIGHT BE THE BEST PLACE TO START TO TRY TO GET COUNTS
AND PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING IN BETWEEN CAN BE ESTIMATED AND THEN ALSO MAYBE NOT TRYING TO DEVELOP TOO MANY PLANS.
IF YOU TRY TO ACHIEVE COORDINATION AND LIMIT THE NUMBER OF PLANS YOU ARE RUNNING EVEN IF IT IS JUST THREE, MAYBE ONE FOR THE MORNING PEAK,
MAYBE AN OFF PEAK AND THEN JUST A PM PEAK MIGHT BE SOME SUGGESTIONS IF THE RESOURCES ARE SCARCE THAT MIGHT BE SOME SUGGESTION.
WE HAD KIND OF A FOLLOW-UP QUESTION TO THE EARLIER QUESTION THE NUMBER OF TECHNICIANS PER SIGNAL AND THAT IS WHAT IS THE AVERAGE COST AND TIME TO OPTIMIZE EACH SIGNAL.
LET SAY COMPARE MISSOURI AND MICHIGAN.
DO YOU KNOW OFFHAND THE AVERAGE COST AND TIME O OPTIMIZE A SIGNAL TOM OR LAUREL?
I REAL LIE REALLY DON'T KNOW THAT OFF HAND.
I SUPPOSE WE COULD PROBABLY ESTIMATE THAT.
NOT REALLY AN EXERCISE WE HAVE EVER GONE THROUGH TO TRY TO DETERMINE THAT.
I THINK WE JUST -- PROBABLY SINCE WE ESSENTIALLY DO OUR PROGRAMMING IN-HOUSE I THINK IF THAT WERE -- IF WE WERE TO LOOK AT MAYBE CONTRACTING THAT OUT WE CERTAINLY WOULD PAY CLOSER ATTENTION TO THAT.
SORRY I DON'T HAVE ANY GOOD INFORMATION ON THAT.
GARY, HOW ABOUT YOU?
ANY NUMBERS COME TO MIND?
YEAH, WE USE A LITTLE OVER 4,000 THAT INCLUDES THE CONSULTANT AND OUR ENGINEERING TIME AND TECHNICIAN TIME TO INSTALL THE TIMINGS.
$4,000 PER INTERSECTION?
CORRECT.
GARY, THIS IS SHELLEY.
WE KEY DID SOME OF THE COST ESTIMATES FOR THE SIGNAL REPORT CARD FOR TIMING UPDATES WE ESTIMATED $3,000.
SO THAT IS IN THE BALLPARK.
THREE TO FOUR THOUSAND DOLLAR.
YOU WERE PROBABLY A LITTLE CONSERVATIVE THERE, SHELLEY.
YES.
WE HAD A QUESTION ABOUT IS ANY PANELIST USING THE RTM VEHICLE DETECTORS.
SEEMS THAT VARIOUS TYPES OF MICROWAVE DETECTORS HAVE BECOME MORE POOP POOP POPULAR.
WE USED THEM IN WASHINGTON STATE BUT PRIMARILY FOR VEHICLE COUNTING BUT NOT FOR STOP BAR DETECTION.
IS THE ACCURACY AN ISSUE?
I THINK THE RADAR TENDS TO NOT GIVE VERY ACCURATE COUNTS WITH AS THE SPEED DROPS BELOW ABOUT 5-MILES AN HOUR SO THEY DON'T GET VERY ACCURATE COUNTS FOR STANDING QUEUE DID HE TEXAS.
DETECTION.
I GUESS THAT WOULD BE TRUE.
ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THE MICROWAVE DETECTORS?
WE DON'T HERE .
IT IS SOMETHING WE ARE CONSIDERING FOR KEY DEE PLOYMENT.
WE HAVE USED THEM FOR MID-BLOCK DETECTION FOR VOLUME COUNT.
BAY BASICALLY NEED TO USE THEM WHERE THE TRAFFIC IS MOVING.
PRIMARILY FROM OUR EXPERIENCE.
GARY, HAVE YOU TRIED ANY OF THOSE AT ALL WITH EITHER YOUR ADAPTIVE OR NONADAPTIVE SYSTEMS?
WE HAVEN'T USED IT FOR THE ADAPTIVE SYSTEM.
WE NEED A DEFINED 15-FOOT ZONE AT THAT TIME AIL ALGORITHMS ARE BASED ON AND IT IT IS HARD TO TELL WHERE THE ZONE IS ON THE MICROWAVE AND SO WE HAVE PT GONE THAT DIRECTION.
WE HAD A KIND OF AN INTERESTING QUESTION FROM ONE OF OUR AUDIENCE MEMBERS.
HAVE THERE BEEN ANY CHANGES IN SIGNAL DESIGN PROCEDURE AS A RESULT OF YOUR SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION PROGRAMS.
LET ME OPEN THAT ONE UP.
TOM OR LAUREL, ANY --
I GUESS THE FIRST THING THAT WOULD COME TO MIND MAYBE WOULD BE THE PLACEMENT OF DETECTORS.
PLACEMENT OF THE LOOPS OR.
HOW HAS THAT CHANGED?
PROBABLY PUSHING TO GET, YOU KNOW, PROBABLY PUSHING THE DETECTOR LOOPS OUT MAYBE A LITTLE BIT OR SYSTEM LOOPS OUT A LITTLE BIT FARTHER DOWN
BECAUSE IF YOU GET TOO CLOSE TO THE INTERSECTION THEN IT IS KIND OF LIKE THE RAY RADAR, YOU ARE TOO CLOSE SPEED.
PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO LEAD.
IT IS MORE IN PLACEMENT OF HOW TO GET THE BEST DATA OUT OF OUR EQUIPMENT THAT WE HAVE.
UM-HMM.
AND WE PROBABLY HAVE ALSO MAYBE SAVED MONEY IN A SENSE BY PRIMARILY JUST RUNNING IN COORDINATION AT LEAST ON OUR MAJOR ARTERIAL SYSTEM.
THROUGHOUT THE SYSTEM WE HAVE KIND OF GOTTEN AWAY FROM HAVING PRESENT DETECTION IN WHAT WE NORMALLY WOULD CONSIDER THE COORDINATED PHASE APPROACHES
JUST BECAUSE WE FOUND THAT BY NOT USING THEM UNLESS WE ARE GOING TO FREE OPERATION AT A CERTAIN POINT
AND IN THOSE CASES WE HAVE GOTTEN AWAY FROM A FULL PRESENCE DETECTOR AND JUST LIKE WHAT LAUREL HAS SAID AND GONE WITH MAYBE A SIX BY SIX SYSTEM DETECTOR.
OKAY.
LET ME FINISH WITH ONE KIND OF AN INTERESTING GENERAL QUESTION.
KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW NOW WHAT ADVICE, DIRECTION WOULD YOU GIVE IN DESIGNING SUCH A SYSTEM TO MINIMIZE THE FIELD REVIEW RETIMING PROCESS?
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE FIELD OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS THAT CAN HELP YOU MINIMIZE THAT PROCESS?
ANYBODY WANT TO TAKE A STAB AT THAT ONE?
I'M TOSS OUT CENTRAL DATA COLLECTION AND CENTRAL CONTROL.
THAT CAN SAVE A LOT OF FIELD REVIEW.
UM-HMM.
DEFINITELY AGREE WITH THAT.
JUST HAVING THE COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE THROUGH THERE TO BE ABLE TO DOWNLOAD FROM THE CENTRAL SYSTEM TO MAKE THE CHANGES
AND AS I MENTIONED IN THE PRESENTATION OUR CCTB SYSTEM MONITORING SYSTEM HAS BEEN INVALUABLE AS FAR AS BEING ABLE TO, YOU KNOW, BE IN THE CENTER AND BE ABLE TO SEE WHAT IT GOING ON
AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AND IMMEDIATELY SEE WHAT IMPACT THAT IS HAVING AND THAT HELPED US QUITE A BIT.
I THINK HONESTLY IT IS FOLLOW-UP AND FINE TUNING AND EVALUATION ON THE STREET THAT IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE DO AS FAR AS FINALIZING THE PLANS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
WELL, I GUESS IN SOME SENSE THEY NEVER REALLY ARE FINAL BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT WE COULD DO TO MINIMIZE HAVING TO GET OUT THERE AND OBSERVE AND MAKE THOSE ADJUSTMENTS.
UM-HMM.
GARY, THAT -- YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT ONE?
I WOULD SAY AS I MENTIONED IN MY PRESENTATION I AGREE WITH WHAT WAS JUST SAID THAT WE TRIED TO MINIMIZE IT TO BEGIN WITH AND FOUND IT WAS A PROBLEM
SO WE HAVE GONE THE OTHER DIRECTION AND I'M NOT SURE WHAT ELSE IS OUT THERE BESIDES USING THE CAMERAS AS WAS MENTIONED AND DOWNLOADING FROM THE CENTRAL COMMUNICATIONS.
OTHERWISE YOU REALLY NEED THAT IS REALLY THE BEST MINIMAL IMPACT YOU HAVE A RIGHT AT THE END MAKING SURE IT IS RIGHT.
I WOULD TRY NOT TO MINIMIZE THAT WOULD BE MY RECOMMENDATION.
OKAY.
I APPRECIATE ALL OF THE QUESTION AND ANSWERS AND THE PARTICIPATION OF THE AUDIENCE AND PARTICULARLY APPRECIATE THE RESPONSES FROM OUR PRESENTERS.
LET ME JUST GIVE AS A WRAP UP GIVE YOU SORT OF AN OVERVIEW OF THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS.
REAR ARE THE MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS AND YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH IT BUT IF NOT WE INVITE YOU TO VISIT THE WEBSITE.
THE ADDRESS SHOWN HERE.
AND YOU WILL BE ABLE TO LINK TO ARCHIVES OF INFORMATION OF PAST TALKING OPERATIONS WEBCASTS TO TWO DIFFERENT DISCUSSION FORUMS AND TALKING OPERATIONS FORUM AND ITS TECHNOLOGY FORUM.
WE WILL BE POSTING SOME QUESTIONS FROM THIS WEBCAST WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS ON THE TALKING OPERATIONS FORUM
AND I ENCOURAGE ALL OF OUR PRESENTERS AND OUR AUDIENCE MEMBERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CONTINUING THE DISCUSSION THERE.
THE NTOC TALKS WEBSITE ALSO IS ACCESSIBLE FROM A NUMBER OF THE MEMBER'S WEBSITES OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS I THINK YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS IT FROM ALL OF THE MEMBER WEBSITES AS WELL.
IT AS RESOURCE.
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO USE IT.
SOME ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE WEBSITE.
IT LINKS TO A NUMBER OF TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS AS WELL AS ITS RESOURCES.
THERE ARE TWO SHARED CALENDARS.
ONE HAVING TO DO WITH ITS AND OPERATIONS RELATED MEETINGS.
ONE HAVING TO DO WITH IT A AND OPERATIONS TRAINING EVENTS AND LINKS TO THE REAL TIME WESTBOUND VERSION OF THE NEWS LETTER WHICH GOES OUT BY E-MAIL TWICE EACH MONTH.
AND IF YOU DON'T SUBSCRIBE TO THAT IT IS FREE.
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO GO TO THE WEBSITE.
JUST FILL IN YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS AND CLICK A BUTTON AND YOU GET IT AUTOMATICALLY.
OKAY.
SO THAT CONCLUDES OUR EXCELLENT PRESENTATION AND THE NUMBER OF SPEECHES AND PRESENTATIONS TODAY.
I APPRECIATE EVERYBODY'S ACTIVE PARTICIPATION.
DON'T FORGET TO REGISTER FOR THE SPECIAL WEBCAST COMING UP NEXT MOPED MONDAY FROM THE THE ITE TECHNICAL CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS.
GO TO THE TALKING OPERATIONS WEBSITE AT TALKING OPERATIONS.WEBEX.COM AND REGISTER AS SOON AS YOU CAN AND THAT CONCLUDES TODAY'S WEBCAST.
THANKS VERY MUCH.
HAVE A GREAT REST OF THE AFTERNOON.
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