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Vancouver Area Smart Trek
Initiative 4
Transportation Management
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The freeway and arterial transportation management plan covers the operation of all functions, devices and systems installed or developed for managing freeways and arterials. Currently, the Vancouver area has the following freeway and arterial operation and management elements in use or under construction:
- Clark County and WSDOT have a shared video system for monitoring traffic on a portion of I-5 and Highway 99.
- WSDOT has one ramp meter.
- WSDOT has changeable message signs (CMS) and a highway advisory radio (HAR) transmitter for disseminating incident or event information to motorists.
- WSDOT is in the process of installing a software program for managing their freeway cameras, ramp meters, data stations and CMS.
- The City of Vancouver, Clark County and WSDOT currently have traffic signal management systems for monitoring a portion of their traffic signals.
Needs
Based on input from stakeholders and through workshops, the following transportation management needs have been identified:
- Install variable speed limit signs for use during harsh weather conditions and/or incidents
- Construct a traffic management center(s)
- Coordinate ramp meters with traffic signals
- Share CCTV camera images with all regional agencies
- Improve traffic management during special events
- Provide improved parking management
- Provide a centrally managed data warehouse
- Provide network surveillance equipment such as detectors and cameras
- Provide real-time travel time information
- Improve monitoring and control capabilities for surface street equipment such as traffic signals
- Improve monitoring and control capabilities for freeway equipment such as cameras, detectors, ramp meters, HOV facilities, and message signs
- Use historic traffic data to predict roadway conditions during special events and incidents
- Provide electronic toll collection on any future toll roads
- Support private sector ventures in advanced vehicle safety systems
Monitor the movement of trains near at-grade intersections in real-time
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Criteria
The following list presents measures that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of transportation management projects. The list includes both qualitative and quantifiable measures. Evaluations of performance need not quantify every measure in this list.
- Integration of transportation system
- Number of incidents
- Number of accidents
- Number of injuries
- Number of fatalities
- Lane carrying capacity
- Volume to capacity ratio
- Queue lengths
- Number of stops
- Travel time savings
- Average vehicle occupancy
- Freeway and arterial miles viewable by cameras
- Vehicle hours of delay
- Infrastructure operating costs
- Emissions savings
- Gallons of fuel consumed
Strategies
- Provide complete CCTV camera coverage of freeways.
- Install CCTV cameras on freeways so every mile within the region can be viewed. This will provide the local agencies with the ability to monitor incidents that occur at any point along the freeways and dispatch appropriate personnel to respond to the incidents rapidly thereby reducing the potential for secondary incidents.
- Provide CCTV camera coverage on major arterials.
- Install CCTV cameras at major congestion points and high crash locations on major arterials. The local agencies have the ability to monitor incidents and respond by dispatching the appropriate personnel and/or modifying the signal timing.
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- Deploy detector stations for incident monitoring along the freeways.
- Freeway and arterial management software can be developed to automatically detect incidents based on detector information. When detector stations detect an unusually rapid increase in congestion on a roadway, the incident detection system in the freeway or arterial management software program can automatically alert the operator of a possible incident. If cameras are available in the area, the operator could select (or the system could automatically select) the best camera to view the incident.
- Deploy detector stations for incident monitoring along major arterials.
- Freeway and arterial management software can be developed to automatically detect incidents through the use of detector stations along arterials. Using the same process as described above, congestion along the arterial can be identified.
- Develop incident response plans for interagency coordination.
- For large incidents that effect multiple agencies, a response plan should be developed for managing traffic. The plan should designate the roles and responsibilities of each agency during an incident and include a method to notify each agency’s traffic management center operator when the incident occurs.
- Deploy a fleet of incident response vehicles.
- Incidents on major freeways and arterials can result in increased congestion and increases the potential for secondary incidents. Using incident response vehicles, incidents can be cleared sooner, reducing the amount of resultant congestion.
- Install changeable message signs (CMS) approaching critical congestion points within the Vancouver region freeway and arterial management system.
- Changeable message signs have proven quite effective in communicating information to motorists. Various studies have proven their usefulness in enabling motorists to make smart travel decisions in advance of non-recurring congestion, such as those caused by incidents, hazardous spills, etc.