Although the recession had dramatically reduced traffic volumes in the past few years, the economy was on the brink of a recovery that portended well for jobs but poorly for traffic congestion. Leaders of four government agencies in Houston, Texas, got together to discuss how to collectively cope with the expected increase in vehicles on the road.
"They knew they couldn't pour enough concrete to solve the problem, and they also knew the old model of working in a vacuum as standalone entities would fail," says John R. Whaley, Executive Director of
They split the cost to secure funding ($13.5 million from the FHWA) and continue to share the cost of Centre operations. Project:
• Multi-jurisdiction transportation and emergency management system throughout 13 counties in Southeast Texas Cost:
• Startup - $13.5 million (1996)
• Annual operating -- US$27.1 per annum (2008)
ROI:
• 11.4/1 - for every $1 spent in public funds on Houston TranStar, the community reaps $11.40 in benefits
Benefits (2008):
• $238 million in road user cost savings
• 22.2 million gallons reduced fuel consumption (or $70 million in fuel savings)
• Reduction of 480 tons of hydrocarbons;
• 3,100 tons of carbon monoxide; and 700 tons of nitrogen oxides (from reduced fuel consumption)But the leaders soon realised that the region's abundant rainfall and flat terrain, proclivity for hurricanes and numerous chemical plants called for large-scale emergency response capability as well, so they incorporated the region's first Emergency Operations Centre into TranStar's plans.
Community benefits
The decreased travel time resulting from the Centre's activities in 2008 translated into more than $238 million in road user cost savings and reduced fuel consumption of more than 22.2 million gallons (saving area drivers about $70 million in fuel costs).The total estimated benefits of Centre operation in 2008 were more than $308 million. Comparing the operating cost of $27.1 million to the estimated annual benefit of $308 million yields a benefit/cost ratio of 11.4.
From 1997 to 2008 the annual benefits have added up to more than $2.2 billion in reduced travel time costs. It's operations reduced travel time by almost 11.0 million vehicle-hours in 2008 alone.
Traveller information
Each month about 450,000 unique visitors access the award-winning Houston TranStar Web site, which offers CCTV snapshots, traffic maps, DMS views, incident and speed data, personalised travel time and incident alerts, construction information and more. Mobile traffic data is available through Web-enabled cell phones or iPhones. Traffic service companies are also housed on the operations floor at Houston TranStar. Local Internet and media outlets use TranStar CCTV feeds, Internet-based incident reporting and travel time systems.
TranStar's 13-county region is huge. With more than 12,300 square miles (31,857km2) and about 5.5 million inhabitants, a massive ITS infrastructure is required to monitor and manage traffic flow:
• 661 freeway CCTV cameras;
• 71 regional hurricane evacuation cameras;
• 201 Dynamic Message Signs;@13 transmitting locations for Highway Advisory Radios;
• 73 radar-based Vehicle Volume and Speed Detectors;
• 85 Flow Signals;
• 812 directional miles of Automatic Vehicle Identification coverage;
• A Roadway Weather Information System whose devices monitor stream levels, rainfall, roadway flooding, air and road temperatures, wind speeds and humidity; and
• More than 2,400 City of Houston traffic signals remotely operated from the Centre. ITS technologies provide improved Metro customer service: Metro programmes at TranStar include bus and MetroRail dispatch, traffic signalisation, HOV management and incident management.
Harris County manages its traffic signal infrastructure and communications from Houston TranStar, while Harris County and the City of Houston have combined their efforts to use a common signal operating platform and hardware.
Incident management
A regional Incident Management Team comprising law enforcement, fire, traffic and emergency response personnel meets monthly at Houston TranStar to improve response and shorten clearance times.Three incident management programmes operate from Houston TranStar:
- The Motorist Assistance Program (MAP) runs 16 hours a day on all major freeways, Monday - Friday. MAP served 43,267 customers in 2009.
- SAFEClear, the City of Houston's popular rapid freeway clearance programme, quickly tows disabled vehicles to reduce secondary crashes. SAFEClear contractors moved 66,937 vehicles in 2009.
- The Mobility Response Team directs traffic at non-working City of Houston traffic signals or minor incidents to keep traffic moving.
Disaster response
The Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (OHSEM) routinely exercises its emergency management plan throughout the year. With Houston TranStar's unique capabilities and partners, the State of Texas has designated Houston TranStar as the Regional Operations Centre for evacuations."In an emergency, the cooperation of the agencies at Houston TranStar enables information to be gathered and distributed to first responders and the public in real time," says Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. "We can all be proud of the benefits gained through Houston TranStar's coordination of both transportation and emergency management."
Pathfinders in ITS innovation
Never content to follow in others' footsteps, three partner agencies at Houston TranStar are embarking on an ambitious yet highly economical endeavour: they're evolving from a traditional Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) system that reads toll tags to accessing Bluetooth signals from passing vehicles for probed-based speed data.
Because the region is so large, millions of dollars are at stake. A single turnkey Bluetooth sensor installation costs about US$1,500 while the traditional AVI installation averages $100,000 and involves lane closures which disrupt traffic flow.
In 2008, Houston TranStar directed the
As more Bluetooth devices permeate local roadways, speed data can be easily collected. The arterial speed information will be posted to the award-winning Houston TranStar Website, which until now has displayed speed data solely on highways and high-volume state roads.
Within the next year, the Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County and the City of Houston plan to deploy more than 350 Bluetooth sensors along one hurricane evacuation route and a number of arterials in their respective jurisdictions. The new sensors will cover some 785 linear kilometres (485 linear miles), including I-45 from Houston to Dallas at 8km (5 mile) intervals.
Benefits for the TranStar partnership include total ownership of a low-cost, standards-based product that uses non-proprietary equipment and protocols with easy, non-intrusive field installation and maintenance. Also, as the Bluetooth market grows, the quality of the data gathered grows too, with real-time summary calculations. Finally, the product and data are solely the property of Houston TranStar: other than maintenance, no leases, fees or other ongoing costs follow the product through its lifetime.
Experience TranStar
Visitors to the
Delegates will be able to see how city, county and state transit engineers work together to monitor traffic conditions including real-time travel speeds and tolling/HOT facilities.
A simulated major incident, in the form of an overturned 18-wheeler truck, will be used to show the benefits of better inter-agency working. Helicopter units will bring back images from the affected area and visitors will be able to see demonstrations of incident management and re-routing.
Guided bus tours will offer the opportunity to see how various modes of transport have been linked together, and the efforts being made to increase capacity on existing HOV lanes. Also included will be tours of tolling facilities in the region, and an opportunity to see how these and HOT facilities have evolved.
The evacuation corridors and techniques developed for Houston and Dallas in light of such catastrophic events as hurricanes Rita and Ike will also featured, as will Metro road and rail operations and facilities.
