Congestion Management Systems: Innovative Practices for Enhancing the Planning Process
Federal requirements state that regions with more than 200,000 people must maintain a Congestion Management System (CMS) and use it to inform transportation planning and decision-making. Federal guidance is not prescriptive regarding how a CMS must be implemented, and many metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) have struggled with how to develop a CMS and make it a useful part of the transportation planning process. These issues are particularly important to many medium and smaller-sized MPOs, which have limited staff and resources to develop the CMS and where traffic congestion is not as significant an issue in the transportation planning process. This paper summarizes the results of a national review of CMS practices that was conducted for the New York State Association of MPOs. It draws on a review of articles, presentations, reports, and CMS documents, as well as on interviews conducted with staff from ten MPOs and FHWA. The report highlights innovative practices that can help to make the CMS a more useful planning tool while satisfying Federal requirements. Specifically, it highlights several exemplary practices for addressing required CMS elements, including establishment of performance measures, collecting data and monitoring system performance, identifying and evaluating improvement strategies, and monitoring strategy effectiveness. It also discusses examples of procedures that have been used to effectively link the CMS and the broader transportation planning process, including use of the CMS in prioritizing projects for selection in the long range plan (LRP) and transportation improvement program (TIP), and for informing other planning considerations, such as land use, traffic operations, and safety planning.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Grant, Michael D
- Fung, Chester
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 85th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2006-1-22 to 2006-1-26
- Date: 2006
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: CD-ROM
- Features: References; Tables;
- Pagination: 15p
- Monograph Title: TRB 85th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers CD-ROM
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Congestion management systems; Decision making; Implementation; Improvements; Long range planning; Metropolitan planning organizations; Safety; Traffic congestion; Transportation operations; Transportation planning
- Geographic Terms: New York (State)
- Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01020438
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 06-2406
- Files: TRIS, TRB
- Created Date: Mar 3 2006 10:59AM