Successes & Challenges in Traffic Monitoring

Transcription

1 Successes & Challenges in Traffic Monitoring Jerry Einolf Highway Information Services Division State Highway Administration (SHA) Maryland Department of Transportation

2 Brief History In 1995, decision was made to move responsibilities for traffic data collection to Highway Information Services Division Goals - Original Project: Improve quality data Make traffic data available over SHA network Improve turnaround time from request to count Reduce SHA data collection staff Privatize traffic data collection Develop automated system New system operational in late 1997

3 How We Monitor Traffic Seventy-nine nine Automated Traffic Recorders (ATRs) Sixty-nine ATRs are currently online, producing data throughout Maryland Over 3,700 short-term term (48-hour) Program (Coverage) Count locations Approximately 1,200 special project counts annually as needed

4 Success Stories Data Collection Privatizing data collection efforts by using multiple consultant contracts Consultants provide the following: Program Counts and all special project related counts This includes the following: Portable machine traffic counts Manual traffic counts Also using innovative products such as Road Ramp and TIRTL to collect classification data on high-speed roadways HOV Counts O-D D Studies On-site site traffic engineering assistance ATR preventative maintenance program

5 Success Stories Applications Developed an Intranet-based User Interface for SHA Traffic Engineers in Maryland s s seven engineering districts and Baltimore City to request special project counts and view existing count data

6 Success Stories Applications Developed a database to store traffic count data, currently offers users 17 years of data Developed a GIS module Request counts, select reports, and display count locations using the GIS-based map Developed a Web-based based reporting module Provides access to all validated traffic count data using a series of pre-defined reports Reports are available to the public on SHA s s Web site Search data by date, day of week, count type, functional classification, and location

7 Success Stories Data Analysis Improved the count validation process Validations performed during ATR load include the following: Standard deviation Repeating values Directional distribution Also review ATR data on a monthly basis with Traffic Engineers from f Travel Forecasting Team Short-term term counts Require digital images of each count site Require review and sign-off by Consultant PE Reviewed by Traffic Engineers from Travel Forecasting Team

8 Success Stories Data Analysis Entered data-sharing agreements with the following: Baltimore Metropolitan Council of Governments (BMC) WASHCOG Baltimore City Maryland Transportation Authority (MdTA) Other local government agencies by request

9 Success Stories Reporting Developed a Web-based based reporting module that is available to the public on SHA s s Web site Made standard sets of reports available to the public on SHA s s Web site Publish a Traffic Trends Report annually Publish a Traffic Volume Map annually

10 Success Stories Reporting Traffic Trends Report

11 Success Stories Reporting Traffic Volume Map

12 Success Stories Overall Getting SHA upper management support Purchasing new hardware and software Budgeting for consultant contracts Using on-site consultants $$$

13 Challenges Data Collection Scheduling and coordinating counts with a limited number of consultants Traffic volume and the safety of consultants, experiencing delays from setting up temporary traffic control Security of ATR equipment as well as the consultants portable equipment Road construction, traffic accidents, and vandalism taking ATRs offline Ensuring that ATRs are taken into consideration during the planning phase of construction projects

14 Challenges Data Analysis Factoring Group Factors: Sufficient number of ATR in each group to calculate Day of Week Factors Truck AADT: Factors to estimate Truck AADT based on limited number of ATR Motorcycle AADT: Calculating factors to estimate Motorcycle AADT Assigning short-term term counts to proper groups for factoring Data accuracy on roads with numerous traffic signals where queuing occurs and also on high volume interstates and freeways

15 Other Challenges & Lessons Learned Sufficient IT support to stay current with technology Privatizing Requires sufficient staff to manage consultants and consultant contracts as well as day-to to-day operations Using standard data collection templates and validations when privatizing Upper management support and $$$

16 Looking to the Future Extending periods of performance on contracts to eliminate the annual rebidding process Going to.net environment Integrating with other systems, such as HMIS and GIS Moving from just providing data warehousing services to providing analytical services as well Continuing to fine-tune the processes and systems along the way

17 Questions?