Air Quality/Congestion Mitigation/Intelligent Transportation Systems
Policy Paper
Draft May 2005
Definition:
Air Quality/Congestion Mitigation/Intelligent Transportation Systems - Includes efforts to ensure federal air quality regulations are met. This is accomplished by investments in congestion mitigation through programs such as Congestion Management/Air Quality (CMAQ) to pay for commuter services programs. It is also accomplished by investments in Intelligent Transportation Systems such as coordinated traffic signals. Congestion mitigation and improvements in air quality are also achieved in the promotion of Healthy Communities policies such as Complete the Streets that ensure alternatives to the automobile are incorporated into the transportation system.
Best Practices:
Intelligent Transportation Systems
· Heritage Health Foundation, Inc. - WorkLink
WorkLink began in 2001 to provide public transportation services to the underserved populations in the Mon Valley. The service connects geographically isolated and low-income populations in the Mon Valley to Port Authority routes. It is funded in part by the regional allocation of Jobs Access and Reverse Commute funding. In order to gauge the effectiveness of the program, hours of operation and gaps in service, WorkLink tracks ridership by day, month, and year for both routes. WorkLink is now embarking on development of an Integrated Rider Data Collection System. This will be comprised of:
- Radio Frequency Identification to scan the riders cards as they enter and exit the WorkLink van.
- Global Positioning System to record the location of the van when a rider enters or departs the van.
- Wireless Internet to email the data from the data collection system on board the WorkLink van to the WorkLink staff at Heritage Health Foundation offices.
· San Francisco Bay 511 System
511 is a free phone and Web service that consolidates Bay Area transportation information into a one-stop resource. 511 provides up-to-the-minute information on traffic conditions, incidents and driving times, schedule, route and fare information for the Bay Area’s public transportation services, instant carpool and vanpool referrals, bicycling information and more. It’s available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 511 is managed by a partnership of public agencies led by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the California Highway Patrol, and the California Department of Transportation.
Congestion Management/Air Quality
· Lancaster Inter-Municipal Committee (LIMC) Traffic Congestion Management Study
This is an organization of 12 municipalities in Lancaster County. The Committee conducted a Traffic Congestion Management Study in September 1999 to evaluate major transportation corridors in the LIMC area and to recommend ways of increasing capacity and improving the overall operation of the roadways and their intersections. The study was to be used by the LIMC municipalities to develop a list of capital improvements and updated periodically to include new recommendations and identify completed projects.
The study had 12 general recommendations including: Traffic Signal Timing (retiming and phasing), Traffic Signal Maintenance, and Interconnection and Coordination of Traffic Signals. The study also identified several Site Specific Recommendations for various improvements, including the previously identified general recommendations. The study identified eight Suggested Priorities based on the most benefit for the least cost. Retiming of Traffic Signals was Priority 2 while Coordination and Interconnection of Traffic Signals was Priority 6.
Policy Recommendations:
1. PENNDOT district staffs, SPC, and the Counties are urged (as a recommended Early Option Analysis from the update to the Long Range Transportation and Development Plan) to conduct a study of major corridors that would identify congestion mitigation measures such as intersection improvements and traffic signal interconnection and coordination of traffic signals. This should include an analysis of regional traffic signal operations and maintenance centers to ensure coordination amongst the municipalities that have control over the timing and maintenance of traffic signals within their jurisdiction. PENNDOT district staffs, SPC, and the Counties are also urged to adopt Healthy Communities policies such as Complete the Streets that ensure alternatives to the automobile are incorporated into the transportation system.
2. PENNDOT, SPC and the Counties, in developing the respective Twelve Year Work Program, Transportation Improvement Program, and Capital Improvement Program are urged to provide higher priority to the projects identified through the regional analysis per the first recommendation.
3. SPC is urged to ensure that CMAQ funds are not be used as a general source of transportation dollars to make up for general funding shortfalls in the highway program. SPC is further urged to ensure that the CMAQ project list should reflect the intent of the CMAQ program, to fund those innovative projects that reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. A staff led committee (recommended in the Programming and Funding policy guidance paper) is recommended to oversee the CMAQ funding.
4. SPC is urged to maintain Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) funding at the current levels for the three existing Transportation Management Associations (TMAs): Airport Corridor Transportation Association (ACTA); Oakland Transportation Management Association (OTMA); Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership (PDP) due to their ability to mitigate congestion and reduce air pollution through providing commuting alternatives in partnership with SPC's Commute Info program and the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board. SPC is urged to utilize this partnership to identify and fund, through the development of the Long Range Plan and Transportation Improvement Program, additional funding for the existing TMAs and the establishment of new TMAs in the region.
5. The region’s public transportation agencies and paratransit providers are urged to invest in advanced technologies that allow for a single fare instrument as well as the ability to monitor and report passenger data.