Decision Support Needs for Transportation Systems December 5, 2000 Emil Wolanin Montgomery County, Maryland
Effects of Weather on Transportation: Congestion (Roads & Intersections) Transit Delays Safety –Conditions (fog, heavy downpours, etc.) –Damage to traffic control equipment Agency Resources
Snow Operations - 3” Storm 2,485 miles of road to treat. 200 snow fighting personnel. 197 Pieces of County owned equipment. 900 tons of salt mix is required to treat the major and primary roads one time. 1,600 tons of sand mix is required to treat the neighborhood streets one time. It takes approximately 16 hours after the snow has stopped falling to plow and/or treat every County road one time.
Equipment Preparation Snow Emergency Routes Police & Fire School Delays or Closings Transit Impacts - Code White, Drivers Parking Lots & Garage Decks Facilities Snow Operations
Managing Weather Impacts Scrounge around for weather info Plan & prepare based on available info Allocate resources based on location, type, severity & duration Tailored Response
Sources of Information Faxed alerts from weather forecasting services (AccuWeather) Weather Monitoring Stations Radar Loop on Cable TV Weather Channel Look out the Window
What Is ITS ? ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) is the use of advanced technology to improve the movement and safety of people and goods. Used to improve how the transportation system is managed and operated under ALL conditions ITS, in a broad sense, is the management of a system of systems: Traffic Signal System Transit Management System Freeway Management System Incident Management System Traveler Information System
What Is ATMS ? Advanced Transportation Management System –State of the art technology for managing the County’s critical roadways Control Monitoring Information Montgomery County’s ITS system
Existing Decision Support Model Responses that are Inconsistent and Inaccurate
Desired Decision Support Model Responses that are Consistent and Appropriate
Signal System PCSign Control PC Weather PC Dispatch PC Other PC Undesirable Architecture
Base Mapping Real Time Traffic Applications Real Time Weather Applications Desired Architecture
TravelersCenters Wireline CommunicationsWide Area Wireless Communications Dedicated Short Range Communications Vehicle to Vehicle Communications Traffic Mgt. (ATMS/ COMTRAC) Transit Mgt. (ORBCAD) Archive Data Mgt. (Informix) Roadway including Weather Sensors Transit Vehicle Personal Information Access RoadsideVehicles ATMS Physical Architecture Chart IIPIMS Weather Services Other
Typical Weather Radar Display
ATMS w/o Integrated Weather Data
ATMS w/ Integrated Weather Data
Improving Operations Better deployment of personnel: –Scheduling and duration of event. –To handle damaged equipment. Enhancements to dynamic signal operations: –Increase clearance times due to road friction. –Modify cycle & split timing patterns
Architecture & Data Standards ITS National Architecture –User Services & Market Packages ITS Standards –communications –message sets –object definitions References – –