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.

By Jessica M. Banks
Senior Transportation Analyst

The 2011 Association for Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) Annual Conference took place in Dallas, TX from October 25 -28, 2011.  This event brought together policy board members, executive directors, technical staffs, federal and state employees, and consultants to share information on a variety of MPO issues.  The 2011 Conference theme was “Moving America’s Metros.”  Topics of the conference included Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning, Developing Sustainable Communities, Innovative Financing, MPO Operations, Performance Measures, Tolling and Highway Finance, and Transit-Oriented Development. 

On October 26, 2011, the Keynote Address was given by Matthew K. Rose, Chief Executive Officer of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) Railway Company.  Headquartered in Fort Worth, TX, BNSF Railway Company operates one of the largest rail systems in North America.  Holding this position since 2000, Mr. Rose is a member of multiple boards including AMR Corporation, AT&T Inc., Association of American Railroads, President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and US Chamber of Commerce.

An update on the latest transportation policy happenings in Washington, DC was given to conference attendees.  This interactive session reviewed recent legislative actions, current funding issues, reauthorization, and the possible impact of the upcoming elections.

The results of the 2011 AMPO Awards were announced on October 27, 2011.  The 2011 award winners included:
•    National Award for Outstanding Overall Achievement for a TMA MPO: Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission
•    National Award for Outstanding Leadership: Michael Skipper, Nashville Area MPO
•    Commemorative Memorial: New York Metropolitan Transportation Council Staff

Joining AMPO, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration representatives held a Q&A town hall discussion on emerging and recent transportation issues on October 28, 2011.

Ms. Camelia Ravanbakht, HRTPO Deputy Executive Director, served on a panel speaking to the topic of Emergency Response and Preparedness.  This discussion-based session highlighted challenges and activities underway that address the issues of security planning for natural and man-made disasters.  Ms. Ravanbakht also attended the AMPO Policy Committee meeting.

For more information about the conference sessions and workshops, please visit: http://www.ampo.org .

By: Sam Belfield, Senior Transportation Engineer

In addition to mandated products (LRTP, TIP, CMP), the HRTPO staff conducts studies and prepares reports for various transportation issues in order to improve safety and mobility, and relieve congestion in the region. Several corridor and local planning studies are completed each year as part of the HRTPO Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). These studies are typically requested by local municipal governments, the HRTPO Board, or the general public and are often considered critical transportation topics. Most studies contain data, analysis, and a set of recommendations that support the goals and objectives established within the Congestion Management Process (CMP) and the Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Many of these studies support one or more of the eight federal planning factors, which are required by Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) as part of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). All studies are coordinated with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), local municipalities, and other stakeholders and are made available for public review and input.

The list below shows the HRTPO special studies completed since 2007:

The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has asked HRTPO staff member Robert Case to help it conduct a research effort titled “Operations Business Process Self-Assessment Tool."

TRB, a congressionally chartered agency, is conducting the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) authorized by Congress at $232.5 million in its 2005 surface transportation funding bill.  According to TRB, SHRP2 focuses on four areas:

Safety -  Prevent or reduce the severity of highway crashes by understanding driver behavior

Renewal - Address the aging infrastructure through rapid design and construction methods that cause minimal disruption and produce long-lived facilities
 
Reliability - Reduce congestion through incident reduction, management, response, and mitigation
 
Capacity - Integrate mobility, economic, environmental, and community needs in the planning and designing of transportation capacity

Under the “Reliability” area, TRB has completed a report “Integrating Business Processes to Improve Travel Time Reliability” which includes ten case studies of agencies which have implemented new ways of handling the causes of “nonrecurring” (i.e. non-daily) congestion including incidents, work zones, special events, and weather.  In addition, TRB produced an accompanying report “Guide to Integrating Business Processes to Improve Travel Time Reliability."

In order to implement the findings and recommendations in these two reports, TRB is currently conducting project L34 “Operations Business Process Self-Assessment Tool”, under which a web-based tool will be produced to help transportation agencies set reliability goals, identify current business processes, develop and implement new processes, assess the results, and institutionalize the new process.

TRB has asked HRTPO staff member Robert Case to join the L34 Technical Expert Task Group to advise TRB staff on the L34 effort.

By Benito O. Pérez
HRTPO Transportation Engineer

Times are tough in Hampton Roads, as in America. Families are looking to stretch their hard earned dollars to maintain a quality level of life. When it comes to transportation though, cutting costs and evaluating other mobility options by families can be a complicated task.

There is help!

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has made available a Transit Savings Calculator. The calculator provides a resource to easily calculate whether you can get a bang for your buck driving to work or hopping on a bus to work. Assuming the average fuel efficiency in cars in America plus the average round-trip commute, fuel costs, parking costs and transit fares in Hampton Roads, a driver can save over $400 annually switching to transit. The calculator can be accessed on APTA's website here. Additionally, switching to transit is environmentally friendly, with the potential to remove approximately 100 pounds of carbon emissions weekly for the average Hampton Roads driver. More information on calculating your commute's footprint and how transit can lessen it can be found here.

Bike Metro, a biking resource in Southern California, has also made available a Bike Savings Calculator that can help decide whether to take two versus four wheels to work. Under similar commuting attributes considered for transit savings in Hampton Roads, a single driver switching to a bike can anticipate over $600 in monthly savings. More information on calculating biking cost benefits can be found here. As with transit, biking shares similar environmental benefits, plus has the added health benefits to the user.

Not sure where to start in altering your single occupancy commute in Hampton Roads? TRAFFIX, a cooperative public service designed to promote transportation alternatives can help. TRAFFIX helps users get information on public transportation options, connect to carpools and vanpools, provides a guaranteed ride home program, rewards users for alternative commuting, and provides resources to setup telework from your employer. More information on TRAFFIX can be found here.