Keith Nichols, Senior Transportation Engineer

The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) has completed the Draft Hampton Roads Regional Travel Time/Speed Study report.

In recent years, new technologies have been created that collect travel time and speed data on a continuous basis.  One source of such data, INRIX, provides real-time and historical travel time and speed data on an extensive statewide roadway network.  HRTPO staff has used this archived data to determine roadway congestion levels based on actual travel times and speeds rather than the current method of estimating congestion levels based on traffic volumes and roadway characteristics.  In addition, HRTPO staff has analyzed the duration of congestion, by roadway segment, with this data. 

This report details HRTPO’s analysis of the travel time and speed data that was collected by INRIX for the year 2010.  This data will help HRTPO with its Congestion Management Process (CMP), which monitors regional roadway congestion and assists with the selection of projects for the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) and Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). 

Click Here to view a copy of the draft document.  The appendices for the report are also available here.

All interested parties are encouraged to review the draft report and send comments to Mr. Keith Nichols at knichols@hrpdcva.gov or by mail to 723 Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake, Virginia 23320. The deadline for comments on this draft report is March 21st, 2012.

By: Sam Belfield
Senior Transportation Engineer

The HRTPO continues to receive input from military commuters since releasing a public transportation survey on November 8, 2011.  As of January 26, 2012, approximately 9,180 survey responses have been received.

The HRTPO is collecting information about the commuting experience of military personnel (active-duty, civilians, contractors, reservists and others) traveling to/from the region’s military bases.  The survey was developed by the HRTPO, in concert with the Commands from the region’s military installations and various transportation stakeholders. It is designed to identify and determine the challenges local military personnel and military-related commuters routinely face during their daily commutes.

The survey will remain open to local military commuters until February 20, 2012.  The survey results will be summarized and reported to the HRTPO board, local transit agencies, local governments, VDOT, and military officials in an effort to improve military travel in our region.

By Keith Nichols
Senior Transportation Engineer

The Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University (TTI) recently released the 2011 Congested Corridors Report, which documents the most congested freeway corridors throughout the country.  The data used in the report was collected in 2010 by Inrix from GPS-enabled vehicles traveling throughout the United States, including taxis, shuttles, trucks, and delivery vans.

Based on the criteria that these most congested corridors must be congested for 3 or more miles at least 4 hours each week, a total of 328 directional freeway corridors across the nation made their list.  In Hampton Roads, two corridors made TTI's most congested corridors list:  The Eastbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Westbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
 
TTI not only looked at those corridors that have the most congestion but also those corridors that are the most unreliable, meaning that the congestion levels vary significantly from day to day.  This is based on a measure called the Buffer Index, which takes into account the extra amount of time a person must build into their schedule to nearly guarantee that they'll make it to their destination on time.  TTI also calculated congestion levels based on the Travel Time Index, which compares how long trips take during the most congested periods of the day versus uncongested conditions.

The Eastbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel ranked as one of the most unreliable congested facilities in the nation, with the fifth highest Buffer Index in the country according to the report.  The Travel Time Index for the Eastbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was also high at 1.89, which means that the average trip taken at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel during rush hour takes 89% longer than the same trip takes during uncongested times of the day.  This Travel Time Index ranked 98th highest in the country.

In the Westbound direction, the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel was more congested than the Eastbound direction, but was also more reliable.  The Westbound Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel had the 54th highest Buffer Index in the country in 2010, but was the 80th most congested corridor in the country with a Travel Time Index of 1.96.

More information on the 2011 Congested Corridors Report is available on TTI's website at http://mobility.tamu.edu/corridors.

Keith Nichols, Senior Transportation Engineer

The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) at Texas A&M University recently released the 2011 Urban Mobility Report.  This report, which includes data through 2010, details traffic congestion in 101 metropolitan areas throughout the United States including Hampton Roads.
 
According to the Urban Mobility Report, each person who commutes to work by automobile in Hampton Roads spent an average of 34 hours stuck in congestion in 2010.  This is up from 32 hours in 2009 but is down from the middle of the last decade, when Hampton Roads commuters annually spent more than 40 hours stuck in congestion.  According to the report, this decrease is common throughout the country and is largely attributable to the impacts of the economic downturn.

Hampton Roads has a higher level of congestion than many other metropolitan areas according to the report.  Among 31 comparable large metropolitan areas throughout the United States with populations between one and three million people, Hampton Roads had the 10th highest delay per auto commuter in 2010. This delay has a cost in terms of lost time, wasted fuel, and impacts on commercial vehicles.  According to TTI, congestion cost the Hampton Roads region a total of $693 million in 2010, or an average of $654 for each person that commutes to work by automobile.

For more information on the TTI Urban Mobility Report, please visit the Urban Mobility Report website at http://mobility.tamu.edu.

ITS Virginia (ITSVA) “serves as a forum and network for its public and private sector members to share information, ideas and experiences” concerning Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), i.e. “technologies that improve the safety, security and efficiency of the surface transportation system” in Virginia.

On May 4 and 5, ITSVA held its Annual Conference in Richmond.  Conference sessions included:

Active Traffic Management Around the World: Lessons for Virginia

Port Improvement Projects

Active Transportation and Demand Management

Two reports from eastern Virginia were presented to the group:

HRTPO Efforts & Initiatives, by Robert B. Case, HRTPO staff

Eastern Region Activities, by Dwayne Cook, VDOT

At the Options for Considering Operational Improvements in the Planning Process session, HRTPO staff learned how to calculate a “buffer index” (95th percentile travel time divided by average travel time) which staff can use to measure travel time reliability on Hampton Roads’ interstates and major arterials.

by Stephanie Shealey
Transportation Engineer

During the April 5th Hampton Roads Transportation Operations (HRTO) subcommittee meeting, Roemer Alfelor (FHWA) briefed the committee members on the FHWA Road Weather Management Program. The purpose of the briefing was to introduce the member localities to the Clarus Initiative, and explain how local Traffic Management Centers (TMC's) can support the initiative and use the data it collects.

The Clarus Initiative (www.clarusinitiative.org) aims to reduce the impact of adverse weather conditions on roadway users. Part of this initiative, the Clarus System (www.clarus-system.com) compiles weather stations across the US and Canada so that local users can monitor not only the weather in their area, but also the weather patterns that are moving towards them, allowing local governments to be prepared to respond to any inclement weather.

Currently, there are two VDOT weather stations in Hampton Roads that are attached to the Clarus system, and the City of Hampton has several roadway weather stations in its own system.

National Work Zone Awareness Week is April 4-8

RICHMOND — Drivers across Virginia are likely to see a lot more highway work zones in the coming months and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) wants drivers to recognize how important their actions are to keep those work areas safe.

VDOT is advancing hundreds of new construction, maintenance and operations projects, and as those projects move to construction the resulting work zones will affect drivers across the state. Motorists will encounter those projects in every part of the state and on all parts of the highway system, from busy urban interstates to local secondary roads in more rural areas.
 
April 4 through April 8 is National Work Zone Awareness Week. VDOT will join other state and federal transportation agencies as well as the highway contracting community to educate motorists about the important role they play in keeping themselves and highway workers safe while driving through highway work zones.

This year’s theme – “Safer driving – Safer work zones –  For everyone” – emphasizes the challenges that work zones have for the driving public. “Motorists may not be aware that the work being done in highway work zones carries risks for them as well as for the workers,” said VDOT Commissioner Greg Whirley. “Four out of five people killed in work zone crashes are motorists.”

In 2009, the latest year that statistics are available, there were seven fatalities in Virginia that involved work zone crashes. Two of those crashes involved two fatalities each. In 2009 there were 3,249 work zone crashes that resulted in 1,721 injuries in addition to those killed. Looking at the national picture, in 2008 fatal work zone crashes accounted for two percent of those killed in highway crashes. In that year there were 720 people killed nationwide and another 40,000 people injured.

“We will do our part to ensure that the traveling public is as safe as possible while using Virginia’s highways,” Commissioner Whirley continued. “We need drivers to do their part to help us keep them safe. That includes recognizing that they’re approaching a highway work area and reacting appropriately by paying full attention to the signs and traffic flow, slowing their speed and minimizing distractions.”

In recognition of Work Zone Awareness Week VDOT will hold a vigil to honor its employees who have lost their lives in work zone crashes. The event will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 4 at the VDOT Workers Memorial, which is located on Interstate 64 on Afton Mountain (milepost 102 eastbound) in Albemarle County. The ceremony is a way for VDOT to honor the memory of those workers who have lost their lives while working on Virginia’s highways. The public is invited to attend the vigil.

VDOT offers the following tips for motorists to increase safety as they navigate highway work zones:

• Follow the signs. Orange signs with black lettering should alert you on the approach to a work zone. Signs and flaggers will direct you through the work zone. Expect changes in traffic patterns as the project progresses.
• Turn on your headlights. Workers and other motorists must see you.
• Don't tailgate. Unexpected stops frequently occur in work zones.
• Don't speed. Note the speed limits in and around the work zone. Enhanced fines of up to $500 may be levied for speeding in a work zone.
• Keep up with traffic flow. Dedicate your full attention to the road and those traveling around you.
• Don't change lanes in the work zone. The time saved just isn't worth it.
• Minimize distractions. Avoid changing radio stations and using mobile phones in the work zone.
• Stay alert, expect the unexpected. Keep an eye out for workers and their equipment.
• Be patient. Remember, the construction or maintenance crewmembers are working to improve the highway, and the safety and comfort of your future travels.
• Call 511. Receive up-to-the-minute traffic and weather information from any telephone in Virginia. Before you travel, log on to www.511Virginia.org for road and traffic conditions, weather forecasts and live traffic cameras on many major highways.

More information about Work Zone Awareness Week is available on VDOT’s web site:
http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/prog-wzsa-default.asp

Find out about the VDOT Workers Memorial, including information about some of those individuals who are memorialized on the monument:
http://www.virginiadot.org/about/is-worker-memorial.asp

Work Zone Awareness Week video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/vdotweb

Kendall Miller
Public Involvement and Community Outreach Administrator

The Virginia Department of Transportation is deploying innovative construction methods to rehabilitate a section of Interstate 81 in Augusta County, reducing construction time by two-thirds. The new methods are saving VDOT millions of dollars as the department recycles existing road material back into the new pavement.
 
VDOT calls the $8 million I-81 improvement an "in-place recycling project" that will strengthen and re-compact the 12-inch underlying foundation in the highway's right lane using "full-depth reclamation."
The Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research worked with VDOT to conduct three recent pilot projects employing this process. An upcoming study by the center documents the results and lessons learned from these pilots. The study recommends using full-depth reclamation on other pavement rehabilitation projects where major structural problems exist.

A three-page fact sheet with more detailed information on the innovative processes used in this project is available at bit.ly/VDOTI81AC.