Please RSVP to transprt@us.ibm.com

When: Thursday, February 25, 2010

Time: 9:00 – 11:45 a.m.

Where: The Rayburn House Office Building, Room B-318, Washington, DC 20005

The rising trends of globalization, urbanization and exponential population growth are applying pressure on our already stressed transportation networks. Leaders of public and commercial transportation systems face daunting challenges including predicting demand, optimizing capacity, improving the traveler’s experience, and maximizing efficiency – all while reducing environmental impact and continuing to assure safety and security. Fortunately, new approaches and technologies are delivering solutions to meet these challenges.

The need for progress is clear. There are now more than 475 urban areas with more than 1 million people residing in them. That’s an increase of 573% from 1950 when there were only 83. That translates into more than half the world’s population now living in urban areas. Transportation congestion continues to grow, wasting time and money while creating more pollution. Most of the developed world’s transportation infrastructures were designed decades ago and reflect the available technology, population and requirements at that time. Simply, the infrastructure responsible for moving the world’s people and things is inadequate.

Meanwhile, transportation investment remains a hot topic in Washington due to federal stimulus funding and new surface transportation legislation that Congress is working to pass.

Please join IBM on Thursday, February 25, 2010, for an exclusive forum in Washington D.C. which will bring together policy makers, transportation companies, metro planners and academics to discuss the future of transportation and how new innovations and investments can bring about speedier and greener passenger travel.

Hosted at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C., the forum will examine society’s need for updated transportation infrastructures– using technology to predict travel times, manage capacity and promote safer transport. Prominent transportation leaders from government and industry will discuss powerful strategies and solutions to dramatically improve our transportation systems.

Participants will include Congressman Earl Blumenaur from Oregon, Dr. Robert Bertini, Deputy Administrator, US DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Janet Kavinocky from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Judge Quentin Kopp, former Chairman of California High Speed Rail Authority, and other distinguished guests.

We value your perspectives and insights on this important topic and look forward to your participation in this collaborative event. Further details will be provided upon your response.

RSVP: transprt@us.ibm.com

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• IBM opens center in Washington (ecombizcenter.blogspot.com)

(Source: Washington Post)

Necessity is the mother of all inventions.  Many of the world’s top innovative tools and applications, right from electricity to our modern computers, were all bron out of our existential necessities.  The following story by Stephanie McCrummen brings to you another such invention that is not the best form of transportation around, but in a country that is shattered by years of a civil war and grinding poverty, it is very effective in getting the  job done – moving people and goods, while enabling income generation for some of the poorest people in this world.

Today’s Washington Post Foreign Service featured this story of Chukudu, a pre-industrial looking local transporter, prevalent in Congo.  Here is an excerpt of this story:

African cities often have forms of transport that reflect some facet of their character. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, tiny, blue, Soviet-made Ladas buzz along the wide avenues, mementos of the country’s Cold War alliance. In the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, a corrupt syndicate runs a fleet of banged-up minibuses with names such as Dreams, Bombastic, Mayhem and I Feel Nothing, which weave a spirited, at times nihilistic, narrative through the traffic.

In the towns and villages of war-ravaged eastern Congo, the lumpy, lava-covered roads belong to the humble chukudu: hand-hewn wooden scooters that men ride and push across the hills, hauling towering loads of charcoal, cabbage, potatoes and other stuff of daily life.

Though the chukudus look pre-industrial, local residents say they date from the 1970s, when Congo’s economy and government began to collapse under the rule of then-dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and people had to improvise services from schools to heavy transport.

Available in three models — small, medium and large — the chukudu is a marvel of practical engineering and endurance. It has become the donkey of eastern Congo — a beast of burden that hauls vegetables in the good times and fleeing people in the bad. Purely utilitarian, chukudus are rarely painted or personalized. The most common flourishes are mudflaps for their wooden wheels. And unlike the minibuses of Nairobi, chukudus rarely inspire nicknames.

Here is the best part – Economics:   Ndayambaje, 27, said he could expect a decent 5,000 Congolese francs, or about $5, for this trip, which is $5 more than he would have if it weren’t for his chukudu.

“If you have a chukudu,” he said, “you can’t starve.”

And you don’t need a license to drive one of these. It will be interesting if someone can conduct a study on the economic impact of this transporter and possibly include  some safety statistics to go along with in that evaluation. You can bet your life that it has to be one of the best cost effective forms of transportation modes around, with a cost-benefit ratio that you cannot beat, ever.  Above all, the Chukudus are super eco-friendly, can be rated zero-emission vehicle right off the bat and people stay fit riding/pushing them around.  Anyways, click here to read the rest of this interesting article.

Streetsblog-Capitol Hill’s Elena Schor posted an interesting analysis a report titled Projects and Paychecks: a One Year Report on State Transportation Successes under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (and a website), released yesterday by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the trade group representing state DOTs in Washington.. The report is billed as a one-year “progress report” on the White House’s $34.3 billion in formula-based American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) a.k.a stimulus spending on transportation projects.

The comprehensive study finds that one year after its passage, state DOTs have set an amazing record of speed and efficienc:

• 77 percent of the $34.3 billion provided for highways and transit out to bid on 12,250 transportation projects.
• The 9,240 projects under construction total $20.6 billion.
• One hundred-fifty of these projects are profiled on the companion website at: recovery.transportation.org.
• As a result of the Recovery Act, 280,000 direct, on-project jobs have been created or sustained across the country.

An excerpt from Elena’s analysis:

Interestingly, the group’s chart [PDF shown below] showing state-by-state progress on transportation stimulus omits the estimates of jobs created by each category of spending — perhaps because a December analysis of those totals showed that transit was a more cost-effective employment generator than road projects.

Overall, the report attempts to make a case for more investment in infrastructure as part of a second round of job-creation legislation, using anecdotes from state DOT officials and local construction workers who claimed a steady paycheck thanks to the stimulus law.

The press release to mark the occasion has the following nugget, which I thought is very interesting:  “With bids running as low as 30 percent below estimates, the study finds that states stretched federal dollars even further, creating more jobs and more miles of improvements. California, Georgia, and Texas awarded more than 90 percent of their highway contracts below original cost estimates.

The report, which includes data from the states, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and the Federal Highway Administration, also found an impressive list of completed projects. As of January 7, 2010, 1,125 bridges had been improved or replaced, 21,400 miles of pavement had been resurfaced or widened, and 1,700 safety traffic management projects had been put into place.”

Making the case for more Transportation investment: “Projects and Paychecks proves just how big a role stimulus is playing to keep Americans working,” said John Horsley, AASHTO executive director. “In January, state DOTs identified more than 9,800 additional ‘ready-to-go’ projects worth $79 billion. Congress needs to move quickly to pass another Jobs Bill. This study proves transportation projects can deliver hundreds of thousands of jobs for America,” Horsley said.

Click here to access the website or here to download the report.

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(Sources: USDOT Sec. Ray LaHood’s Fast Lane Blog; USDOT; NY Times; Wired, Tree Hugger; The Transport Politic)

A day after delivering the State of the Union address, President Obama took his economic message on the road in the first of a series of trips outside Washington. He began his full-scale pivot to the economy by focusing on high-speed rail projects, a tangible thing that many voters can see in their own neighborhoods or states. Joined by Vice President Biden in Tampa, Florida, he announced the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act High-Speed and Inter-city Passenger Rail grants. Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. both traveled to Florida to announce the projects. The president and vice president rarely travel together, but did so in this case because Mr. Biden has overseen the economic stimulus plan. He introduced Mr. Obama to the crowd at an event that resembled a campaign rally.

The investments, scattered across the country, include startup money for high-speed rail projects in California and Florida. For months, states have been engaged in a bidding war over the money, which comes from the economicstimulus plan approved a year ago.

Image Courtesy:Sec. Ray Lahood's Fastlane blog

Our favorite, Yonah Freemark @ The Transport Politic summarized this seed funding for HSR as follow: After months of speculation about which states will get funding from the Federal Railroad Administration to begin construction on new high-speed corridors, the news is in. As has been expected, California, Florida, and Illinois are the big winners, with more than one billion in spending proposed for each. But other states with less visible projects, including Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Washington will also get huge grants and begin offering relatively fast trains on their respective corridors within five years. The distribution of dollars is well thought-out and reasonable: it provides money to regions across the nation and prioritizes states that have made a commitment of their own to a fast train program.

The bulk of today’s awards go to new, large-scale high-speed rail programs–projects such as Florida, with $1.25 billion to develop a high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour–and California, with $2.25 billion to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.

In total, 31 states and the District of Columbia will receive awards. In addition to 13 corridor investments, we are also awarding several grants for improvement projects and planning. These efforts on existing routes and emerging corridors will lay the groundwork for future high-speed and intercity rail development.

And here are the stats of the projections for each line via Tree Hugger (via Wired):

California
First Phase – San Francisco to Los Angeless
Ultimate Goal – Sacramento to San Dieago
Estimated Completion Date – 2025
Top Speed – 220 mph
Final Tab – $45B

Florida
First Phase – Tampa to Orlando
Ultimate Goal – Orlando to Miami
Estimated Completion Date – 2017
Top Speed- 180 mph
Final Tab – $11.5+B

Midwest
First Phase – Chicago to Madison, Detroit, and St. Louis.
Ultimate Goal – Hub-and-spoke network: 20 major cities using 3,000 miles of existing railway.
Estimated Completion Date – 2025
Top Speed – 110 mph
Final Tab – N/A

Texas
Ultimate Goal – “T-Bone” connecting Dallas/ Ft. Worth, San Antonio, and Houston
Estimated Completion Date – 2020
Top Speed – 220 mph
Final Tab – $12-22B

Northeast
Ultimate Goal – Speed-boosting upgrades to existing lines to get Washington-to-Boston travel time down to five hours, 45 minutes.
Estimated Completion Date – 2023
Top Speed – 150 mph
Final Tab – $12B

Other lines will grace Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

For further details on the major corridor projects, click here (via USDOT Press Release):

• Florida
• California
• Chicago-St. Louis-Kansas City
• Madison – Milwaukee – Chicago
• Charlotte – Raleigh – Richmond – Washington, D.C.
• Eugene-Portland-Seattle
• Detroit-Chicago
• Ohio
• Northeast

Please visit here for a complete in-depth analysis of this distribution and for an awesome table that captures salient features (distance, funding amounts, etc). Thanks to Yonah Freemark for his efforts to keep us informed.

New Report: U.S. Falling Off Pace of World Leadership In Intelligent Transportation Systems

Why the U.S. is Missing the Intelligent Transportation Systems Revolution

WASHINGTON, D.C.— A new report by a leading Washington, D.C. think tank will be released on Wednesday, January 27^th, highlighting the increasing disparity between foreign industrialized nations and the United States regarding the current use of new technologies to address major transportation congestion, safety, and environmental problems.

At Wednesday’s forum, researchers from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will issue the report and discuss its findings with domestic and international transportation experts.  The report, Explaining International IT Application Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems, discusses why the United States has fallen behind in developing intelligent transportation technology while nations such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and others have made significant progress and advances.

Date:   Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Time:  9 AM – 10:30 AM

Place:  Information Technology and Innovations Foundation,  1101 K Street, NW, Suite 610A , Washington, DC 20005

(News media inquiries, please call ITIF at 202-449-1351)

Participants

• Robert Atkinson (moderator),  President, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
• Stephen Ezell (presenter), Senior Analyst, The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Respondents:

• Scott Belcher, President and CEO, ITS America
• Riz Khaliq, Global Business Executive, Intelligent Transportation Systems and Growth Markets, IBM Global Government
• Masahiro Nishikawa, Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism (MLIT)

Report Should Be “A Serious Wake Up Call” For the U.S.

“The report should be a serious wake-up call to our nation’s transportation leaders and policy makers as to why the U.S. is not staying competitive in the international market,” said Scott Belcher, President and CEO of ITS America. “Other industrialized nations have learned that a major key to transportation efficiency and economic growth is by deploying intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to allow for the safe and easy movement of goods and people.

“We have the opportunity to reverse this disparity if we don’t continue to ignore 21^st Century technology in addressing our transportation problems,” Belcher said.

According to the report: “Many think improving a country’s transportation system solely means building new roads or repairing aging infrastructure.  But the future of transportation lies not in concrete and steel, but in a network of sensors, microchips, and communication devices that collect and disseminate information about the functioning of the transportation system.”

The report also introduces specific recommendations on how the U.S. government can accelerate the deployment of ITS to remain economically competitive with other industrialized nations.

“Information Technology Is Revolutionizing Transportation”

ITS technology includes real-time, in-vehicle traffic and transit information; new types of automated road pricing; adaptive traffic signal timing; safety warning systems; and many other applications which leverage IT to enhance the safety, efficiency and convenience of transportation, including for cars, trucks and mass transit.

“What ITS do is empower actors in the transportation system—from commuters, to highway and transit authorities, even down to the actual traffic lights themselves—with actionable information, that is, intelligence, to make better-informed decisions, whether it’s choosing which route to take, when to travel, or whether to mode-shift; how to optimize traffic signals; where to build new roadways; or how to hold providers of transportation services accountable for results,” said Stephen Ezell, ITIF lead report author.

“As we have seen technology revolutionize how we work and live, information technology is revolutionizing transportation. Other nations are already using intelligent transportation technology to reduce traffic collisions, congestion and carbon emissions,” Belcher said.

“Imagine being able to receive real-time information about traffic congestion or incidents on freeways, updates of when the next bus or train will arrive when using mass transit, or collision avoidance warnings from autonomous vehicle sensors when crashes appear imminent,” Belcher said. “In many other industrialized parts of the world, this is already happening.”

NOTE: This event will be live webcast here on the day of the event. News media inquiries, please call ITIF at 202-449-1351.

(Sources: AFP via Yahoo; Xinhua, Times of India)

China on Saturday (Dec 26) unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world — a train connecting the modern cities ofGuangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.

The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069 kilometre journey to a three hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven and a half hours, the official Xinhua news agency said. Work on the project began in 2005 as part of plans to expand a high-speed network aimed at eventually linking Guangzhou, a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, Xinhua added.

“The train can go 394.2 kilometres per hour, it’s the fastest train in operation in the world,” Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau at the railways ministry, told Xinhua. By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link, according to Xinhua.

Test runs for the service began earlier in December and the link officially went into service when the first scheduled train left the eastern metropolis of Wuhan on Saturday.

To sweeten the news further, a report published on the Xinhua quoted the China CREC Railway Electrification Bureau Group (CCREBG) stating that China’s electrified railway mileage has surpassed 30,000 kilometers, ranking the second in the world, said.

It achieved the goal with the completion of a 1,422.2-kilometer electrified railway line which connects Beijing and Lehua in south China’s Jiangxi Province on Saturday, according to the CCREBG. The project, involving an investment of more than 7.6 billion yuan (or1.112 billion U.S. dollars), will increase the trains’ speed from 120 kilometers to 160 kilometers per hour and raise the transportation volume from 3,500 tonnes to 6,000 tonnes by each train. Congratulations, China.

The era of high speed railway began in China in 2004 when Guangzhou was linked to Shenzhen, both in Guangdong Province, with a train traveling at 160 km per hour. This was followed by the launch of a high-speed line linking the capital with the port city of Tianjin at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The government recently announced it plans to build 42 high-speed lines by 2012 in order to spur economic growth amid the global downturn. China has unveiled a massive rail development program, considered to be the world’s biggest plan outside the United States. The goal is to take the rail network from the current 86,000 kilometers to 120,000 kilometers.

(Sources:  The Guardian, UK, New Civil Engineer)

China today announced it had begun construction of the world’s longest sea bridge – barely 18 months after opening the current record-holder.

The Y-shaped link between Hong Kong, Macau and China will be around 50km (31 miles) long in total, 35km of which will span the sea, said the state news agency Xinhua. Due to be completed by 2015, the 73bn yuan (£6.75bn) cost of the bridge will be shared by the authorities in the three territories.

Here are some interesting design features of this project as noted on the Hong Kong Government’s Highways Department website:  The HZMB Main Bridge is a 29.6km dual 3-lane carriageway in the form of bridge-cum-tunnel structure comprising an immersed tunnel of about 6.7 km. According to the current option, It runs from the artificial island off Gongbei of Zhuhai to the eastern artificial island for the tunnel section just west of the HKSAR boundary.

The Highways department website notes that this project includes construction of a 29.6 km dual three-lane carriageway in the form of bridge-cum-tunnel structure comprising a tunnel of about 6.7 km and the construction of two artificial islands for the tunnel landings west of the HKSAR boundary

The structure also includes a 5.5km underwater tunnel with artificial islands to join it to bridges on each side. According to the engineering group Arup – which has helped with the design – it is the first major marine bridge-and-tunnel project in China. But the engineering firm described the structure as 38km in length; the reason for the disparity in the bridge length was unclear.

Work is expected to begin with land reclamation to create an artificial island of around 216 hectares (540 acres) off Zhuhai. This will become the customs point for those making the crossing.

But much of the structure will be prefabricated offsite, so, for example, the concrete deck sections can be produced at the same time as the foundations are laid. The tunnel will be made of precast sections – each 100 metres long.

“It is designed with a service life of 120 years. It can withstand the impact of a strong wind with a speed of 51 meters a second, or equal to a maximum Beaufort scale 16 (184 to 201kmph),” said Zhu Yongling, an official in charge of the project construction. “It can also resist the impact of a magnitude-8 earthquake and a 300,000-tonne vessel.”

According to an article in New Civil Engineer magazine earlier this year, the bridges cross three navigation channels while the tunnel goes under a fourth.

“There is an airport nearby, so we could not build a bridge [in that area] which was the reason for the tunnel. The immersed tube is the longest in the world at 5.5km long,” Naeem Hussain, global bridge leader at Arup, told the publication.

He said the bridge’s piers would each be 170 metres high and that the design team had minimised the structures impact on estuary flows by limiting the size and number of columns in the water.

The project has been on the drawing board for some time after first being discussed by politicians in the 1980s. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) Advance Work Coordination Group was established in 2003 and the China’s Central Government and the regional governments of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau agreed finance last summer. “The idea of having a bridge came more than 20 years ago around 1983 and came from a local tycoon named Sir Gordon Wu,” says Arup director Daman Lee.

Creating the two islands where the tunnel dives under the sea involves a considerable land reclamation work. “The border crossing facility in Hong Kong will have to be created from scratch as a reclaimed island,” said Lee. “It’s 120ha so it’s quite a big place. A car would come in from Zhuhai, go through customs and then onto Hong Kong. Or it would park there and public transport would be used. Macau is too small to allow for car traffic so all cars [from Hong Kong and China will have to] park [at the border crossing] and take public transport”.

The Hong Kong Government’s Highways Department website offers some interesting estimates about the traffic volume projections for this new sea link and offers this strategic outlook from an economic standpoint: The HZMB will be strategically important to the further economic development of Hong Kong, Macao and the Western Pearl River Delta region. It will significantly reduce transportation costs and time for travelers and goods on the road, but the benefits go far beyond this. With the HZMB, the Western PRD will fall within a reachable three-hour commuting radius of Hong Kong. This would enhance the attractiveness of the Western PRD to external investment, which is conducive to the upgrading of its industry structure. Hong Kong will benefit from this new economic hinterland, with its vast human and land resources which will provide ample opportunities for Hong Kong businessmen to expand their operation in the Mainland.

The Economic Net Present Value (ENPV) of the project is about RMB￥40 billion for an operation period of 20 years. The estimated ENPV for Hong Kong is about RMB￥23 billion as compared to RMB￥13 billion for the Mainland and RMB￥4 billion for Macao. The Economic Internal Rate of Return of the project is 8.8% in respect of Hong Kong over a 20-year period, or 12% over a 40-year period.

Click here to read the entire Guardian article. Also, do not hesitate to visit the Wiki page for this project, which offers far more information than any other source on the web, covering a whole slew of project information, assembled from various sources.

(Source: USDOT Press Release)

Dallas and San Diego selected as Integrated Corridor Management Pioneer Demonstration Sites

In an historic step towards ending gridlock in urban areas across the country, the U.S. Department of Transportation today announced that the Dallas and San Diego areas will receive $14 million as the nation’s first demonstration sites for new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies that help fight congestion and enhance travel.  The Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) initiative will help the Dallas and San Diego metro areas become “living laboratories” in the fight against congestion.

“These communities are leading the way by using state-of-the-art technologies to create a commute that is safer, less congested and more convenient.” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.  “America can’t simply build our way to a more modern and efficient transportation infrastructure.  These projects will show the rest of the nation that bumper-to-bumper traffic doesn’t have to be the status quo.”

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will contribute $3 million for an $8.3 million project. DART will use a transportation management model to predict travel conditions 30 minutes into the future, allowing diversion of traffic to other routes during freeway incidents and special events along US-75.  Travelers will have access to real-time information about traffic, public transit and expected travel times, through wireless and web-based alerts.

The San Diego Association of Governments and its partnering agencies will contribute $2.2 million for a $10.9 million project.  San Diego will use ITS investments along I-15 to enable a “smart” traffic management system that combines road sensors, video and traveler information to take steps to reduce congestion.  It will deliver information to commuters via the internet and message signs and will enable managers to adjust traffic signals and ramp meters to direct travelers to HOV lanes, HOT lanes, bus rapid transit and other options.

Since 2005, ICM has laid the groundwork for transportation agencies to use existing roads, intersections and other elements of urban transportation networks more efficiently

The demonstrations will build on past findings about ICM to provide a first-hand evaluation of the real-world impact.  The new technology will avoid the dangers of text-messaging and other distractions behind the wheel that result in distracted driving.

The initiative is jointly sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA).

Below is a summary of the ICM Pioneer sites (courtesy of the ITS JPO):

ICM Pioneer Sites–Dallas, Texas

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is currently populated by 6 million people, and is growing by 1 million every 7 years. Travel demand and congestion in this area continue to grow. Dallas’ US-75 ICM Corridor is the highest volume and most critical transportation corridor in the region. It has major employment centers and while there is no room for expansion of the corridor, it will be impacted by major construction planned in the surrounding area.

Dallas is creating an operational entity responsible for all ICM activities. In this region, transit availability and capacity is being increased, park-and-ride facilities will be improved, and intelligent transportation system elements are being deployed in the field. In addition, HOV and HOT lanes will be added, and value-pricing strategies are being explored.

The Dallas US-75 ICM corridor was chosen as a site for Analysis, Modeling and Simulation (AMS) of ICM strategies. Click here to learn more about this site’s Experimental Plans and early results.

More on Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas’ ICM Corridor:

The Dallas, Texas application proposed U.S. route 75 from downtown Dallas to SH 121 with the North Dallas Toll Way to the west and DART and various arterials to the east as their corridor. The Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority was the lead agency, accompanied by the City of Dallas, the City of Richardson, the City of Plano, the City of University Park, the Town of Highland Park, the North Central Texas Council of Governments, the North Texas Tollway Authority, and the TxDOT Dallas District. In addition to the expected freeway and arterial capabilities, the corridor includes HOV, tolling, express bus, and light rail.

ICM Pioneer Sites–San Diego, California

San Diego experiences significant traffic congestion during peak travel periods, has limited HOV and HOT lanes, and has limited transit capacity. The strong consortium of partnering agencies in San Diego is increasing multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency collaboration on corridor management. Together, they are introducing dynamic ramp metering to reduce arterial spillover and they are looking to collect arterial data to support efficient signal timing strategies. This ICM team is implementing dynamic variable pricing along 21 miles of managed lanes and pioneering congestion avoidance awards.

The San Diego I-15 ICM corridor was chosen as a site for Analysis, Modeling and Simulation (AMS) of ICM strategies. Check back in late 2009 for updates on this site’s Experimental Plans and early results.

More on San Diego, California’s ICM Corridor:

The San Diego, California application proposed I-15 from SR 52 in San Diego to SR 78 in Escondido as their corridor. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) was the lead agency, accompanied by Caltrans, the City of San Diego, the City of Escondido, the City of Poway, the Metropolitan Transit System, and the North County Transit District. In addition to the expected freeway and arterial capabilities, the corridor includes HOV, tolling, value pricing, express bus, and BRT.

Click here to read more.

(Source: NPR)

The government is imposing fines for the first time against airlines for stranding passengers on an airport tarmac, the Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

The department said it has levied a precedent-setting $175,000 in fines against three airlines for their role in the stranding of passengers overnight in a plane at Rochester, Minn., on Aug. 8.

For those unaware of the issue, here is a wonderful write-up , courtesy of Wall Street Journal Blog, that gives you a good understanding of the incident that prompted this Fed action and a breakdown of the DOT penalties for each of the involved parties.

Flight 2816 from Houston to Minneapolis was diverted to Rochester at 12:30 a.m. and passengers were held onboard until 6:15 a.m., when they were finally allowed into a terminal, DOT said. ExpressJet, which operated the flight on behalf of Continental, had contacted Mesaba, the only airline with ground handling at Rochester, before the plane landed. Mesaba agreed to provide ground services. But shortly after the flight arrived, a Mesaba employee told the flight’s captain passengers couldn’t deplane because there were no Transportation Security Administration screeners on duty. That didn’t matter—TSA rules don’t prohibit people from deplaning without screeners on duty.

DOT fined Continental and ExpressJet $100,000 for engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices because they violated Continental’s customer service commitment, which promises that passengers will be allowed off a plane after it has been sitting for three hours. Mesaba was fined $75,000 for an unfair and deceptive practice when it provided inaccurate information to ExpressJet about deplaning passengers from Flight 2816, the DOT said.

Continental and ExpressJet, which each were fined $50,000, both said in statements that they agreed to the DOT’s consent order to avoid costly litigation. They both noted that ExpressJet had worked throughout the night to deplane passengers but was blocked by Mesaba. Mesaba said in a statement it believes it “operated in good faith by providing voluntary ground handling assistance to ExpressJet,’’ but is re-evaluating policies and procedures because of the event.

Secretary LaHood followed-up on this issue with a blog post, expressing his support for the passengers: “Look, this is just no way to treat passengers, customers, or anyone. You can’t strand people overnight without access to the basics. It’s not right; it’s against the rules.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Transportgooru Musings: Thank you, Secratary LaHood.  Your actions reaffirm that our Government is  indeed “for the people, by the people, of the people.” Interesting enough, the NPR story also notes that the department’s action comes at a time when the Congress is weighing legislation that places a three-hour cap on how long airlines can keep passengers waiting on tarmacs before they have to offer them the opportunity to deplane or return to a gate. The measure would give a flight’s captain the authority to extend the wait an additional half hour if it appears that clearance to takeoff is near. As one would expect, the Air Transport Association (ATA), which represents major airlines, is opposing this measure.  According to the ATA,  a three-hour limit could create more problems than it alleviates by increasing the number of flights that are canceled and leaving passengers stuck at airports trying to make new travel arrangements.

How is that the European airlines are able to successfully operate without encountering such problems?  I’ve not seen anyone from an European airline complaining about the EU regulations (at least after it had become a law).  The European Union, which caps the acceptable delay at 2 hrs,  has successfully enacted the Passenger Bill of Rights that has some reasonable points that tells you how much they care about a passenger stuck in a metal tube with no access to basic necessities such as food. The following summary of the EU law, courtesy of Airsafe.com, gives you a good idea of what the European value system looks like:

Delays and Cancellations for European Union Related Flights

In most, but not all, cases involving a delay or cancellation of a flight, a passenger is entitled to compensation under European Parliament Regulation (EC) 261/2004 for delayed and cancelled flights. There are three levels of compensation:

• in the event of long delays (two hours or more, depending on the distance of the flight), passengers must in every case be offered free meals and refreshments plus two free telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or emails;
• if the time of departure is deferred until the next day, passengers must also be offered hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and the place of accommodation;
• when the delay is five hours or longer, passengers may opt for reimbursement of the full cost of the ticket together with, when relevant, a return flight to the first point of departure.

This regulation applies to all airline flights departing from an EU airport or to any airline licensed in the EU if that flight is departing from an airport outside the EU to a destination at an airport in an EU member state.

Delays and Cancellations for Other International Flights

Transportgooru is a proud supporter of the International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs (IBEC) Working Group, which is a cooperative working group set up to coordinate and expand international efforts, to exchange information and techniques, and evaluate benefits and costs of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).  IBEC brings together the best knowledge and experience and is the focal point for discussion and debate of interest to the international ITS evaluation community. IBEC encourages more effective use of ITS evaluation information so that decision-makers can make more informed ITS investments.

IBEC’s newsletters are very informative and offers interesting perspectives on a wide-spectrum of issues pertaining to three important areas of ITS – Benefits, Evaluation and Costs.    Here is the latest newsletter ( September 2009), which can also be accessed/downloaded directly from IBEC’s website.

Click here to learn more about the organization and how to become a member. FYI – Membership is free and open to any interested individual. IBEC currently has over 400 members from over 40 countries.