Download or read book Incorporating Safety Into the Regional Planning Process in Virginia written by John Sanders Miller and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Federal Highway Administration argues that one way to reduce substantially the annual $230 billion national societal cost of motor vehicle crashes is to incorporate safety directly into the long-range transportation planning process. Because much of this planning in Virginia is conducted by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and planning district commissions (PDCs), it is appropriate to determine ways in which the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) (which generally is responsible for roadway safety) may work with these organizations to integrate safety and planning. A survey of Virginia MPOs/PDCs conducted in this study revealed a healthy interest in such integration: 83% of respondents included safety in their planning goals and objectives, 61% involved citizens in safety planning, and 86% (of those answering the particular question) indicated safety is a factor (or in the case of one respondent, the only factor) used to prioritize projects in the long-range plan. The survey also identified several barriers to such integration. Although respondents cited a lack of dedicated safety funding as the largest obstacle, other barriers cited included the difficulty of obtaining of crash data and a lack of adequate training for staff in areas such as geometric design, crash data acquisition, and human factors. Further, 44% of respondents [who answered the particular question] noted that before/after studies are not conducted to determine the efficacy of safety-related projects. Accordingly, this study developed a Virginia-specific resource guide that VDOT district planning staff, MPOs, and PDCs can use to enhance the integration of safety into the planning process. Volume I describes the process used to develop the guide; the guide itself is provided in Volume II. The guide promotes the incorporation of safety into the planning process by providing numerous, specific examples rather than by exhorting agencies to perform such coordination. Virginia is a diverse state composed of urban, suburban, and rural regions with varying degrees of reliance on local and state crash data systems. As a consequence, the opportunities to integrate safety and planning are themselves diverse, as reflected in the guide. Many solutions presented in the guide are feasible in some situations but not in others. For example, widening substandard high-speed travel lanes may be productive in a rural area, whereas an urban location might benefit from a reduction in the number of vehicle lanes and the addition of a bicycle path. Further, the guide identifies 16 funding sources for safety-related projects given that no funding source has universal applicability. By necessity, therefore, of the diverse examples provided in the guide, only some may be suitable for a given region.
Download or read book Incorporating Safety Into the Regional Planning Process in Virginia written by John Sanders Miller and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Federal Highway Administration argues that one way to reduce substantially the annual $230 billion national societal cost of motor vehicle crashes is to incorporate safety directly into the long-range transportation planning process. Because much of this planning in Virginia is conducted by metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and planning district commissions (PDCs), it is appropriate to determine ways in which the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) (which generally is responsible for roadway safety) may work with these organizations to integrate safety and planning. A survey of Virginia MPOs/PDCs conducted in this study revealed a healthy interest in such integration: 83% of respondents included safety in their planning goals and objectives, 61% involved citizens in safety planning, and 86% (of those answering the particular question) indicated safety is a factor (or in the case of one respondent, the only factor) used to prioritize projects in the long-range plan. The survey also identified several barriers to such integration. Although respondents cited a lack of dedicated safety funding as the largest obstacle, other barriers cited included the difficulty of obtaining of crash data and a lack of adequate training for staff in areas such as geometric design, crash data acquisition, and human factors. Further, 44% of respondents [who answered the particular question] noted that before/after studies are not conducted to determine the efficacy of safety-related projects. Accordingly, this study developed a Virginia-specific resource guide that VDOT district planning staff, MPOs, and PDCs can use to enhance the integration of safety into the planning process. This report (Volume I) describes the process used to develop the guide; the guide itself is provided in Volume II. The guide promotes the incorporation of safety into the planning process by providing numerous, specific examples rather than by exhorting agencies to perform such coordination. Virginia is a diverse state composed of urban, suburban, and rural regions with varying degrees of reliance on local and state crash data systems. As a consequence, the opportunities to integrate safety and planning are themselves diverse, as reflected in the guide. Many solutions presented in the guide are feasible in some situations but not in others. For example, widening substandard high-speed travel lanes may be productive in a rural area, whereas an urban location might benefit from a reduction in the number of vehicle lanes and the addition of a bicycle path. Further, the guide identifies 16 funding sources for safety-related projects given that no funding source has universal applicability. By necessity, therefore, of the diverse examples provided in the guide, only some may be suitable for a given region.
Download or read book Pilot Implementation of a Resource Guide to Enhance the Incorporation of Safety Into the Regional Planning Process written by John Sanders Miller and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To incorporate safety into the regional planning process, a Virginia-specific resource guide was recently developed for use by districts of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and planning district commissions (PDCs). In order to determine how to enhance the implementation of the guide throughout Virginia, a pilot implementation of the guide was conducted in one Virginia PDC -- the Roanoke Valley - Alleghany Regional Commission -- where representatives helped identify tasks the guide should help them accomplish. Deliverables included (1) acquiring crash locations for incorporated cities (for which VDOT has not historically maintained roads); (2) identifying high-crash locations; (3) determining potential crash countermeasures; and (4) using safety-related performance measures that do not rely exclusively on crash data. These four deliverables corresponded to three modules in the resource guide: data needs (Deliverable 1), data analysis (Deliverables 2 and 3), and performance measures (Deliverable 4). The pilot implementation showed that most (87% of county crashes and 93% of city crashes) crashes could be successfully located in a geographic information system environment; that potential crash countermeasures could be identified based on a study of the characteristics of these crashes; and that for instances where crash data are likely to be sparse, non-crashbased performance measures are feasible. However, the pilot implementation showed that four additional types of guidance, not fully specified in the resource guide, may make accomplishing these tasks easier: the steps for querying crashes from VDOT's Crash Records Database and then importing those crashes into a geographic information system for an entire jurisdiction approaches for determining what constitutes a crash cluster and whether a given cluster represents a relatively high concentration of crashes; ways to identify crash countermeasures based on examining crash characteristics; geometric characteristics; and, if necessary, the crash diagram and narrative - ways to use performance measures to support a program of interest to the region. These four types of guidance are provided in Appendix B and in the examples provided in the body of this report. The pilot implementation also showed that it may be productive to focus on using the guide for short-term safety and planning initiatives first rather than focusing only on long-range planning issues.
Download or read book Incorporation of Safety Into the Regional Transportation Planning Process in Virginia written by Josephine N. Kamatu and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Planning for Active Traffic Management in Virginia written by Michael D. Fontaine and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Active Traffic Management (ATM) applications, such as variable speed limits, queue warning systems, and dynamic ramp metering, have been shown to offer mobility and safety benefits. Yet because they differ from conventional capacity investments in terms of cost, service life, and operating requirements, how to incorporate them into the planning process is not clear. To facilitate such incorporation, this study developed guidelines for considering ATM deployments. The guidelines consist of four sets. The first set identifies required infrastructure and operational conditions, such as sensor placement and queueing behavior, to apply a particular ATM technique at a given site. The second set presents sketch planning analysis methods to estimate the operational and safety benefits of applying the particular technique at the site; these may be refined with the third set concerning a more detailed (and accurate) simulation analysis. The fourth set concerns continued monitoring of an ATM deployment at a given site. Also provided is a framework for incorporating ATM concepts into the regional planning process. The framework is illustrated with a hypothetical case study of variable speed limits implemented on I-66 in Virginia. Although Virginia metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the Virginia Department of Transportation already consider operational initiatives to some degree within the planning process, a key finding of this study is that there are several ways to strengthen the inclusion of operational initiatives. These include (1) using the guidelines developed in this study; (2) linking ATM initiatives to the MPO's Congestion Management Process; (3) facilitating the computation of operational-related performance measures such as total vehicle-hours per day; and (4) emphasizing, when applicable, the safety and environmental aspects of ATM. The rationale for such aspects is not to promote ATM as being more effective than other types of investments but rather to compare ATM objectively with these other types of investments. For example, Appendix A illustrates how to compute a benefit-cost ratio where costs include capital and operations expenditures for the ATM and where benefits include monetized values of vehicle-houts of delay plus crash costs. In this manner, the benefit-cost ratio for an ATM project may be compared to the benefit-cost ratio for other operational or capacity projects.
Download or read book Safety written by National Research Council (U.S.). Transportation Research Board and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "No. 1922 examines the responses of cognitively impaired older drivers to emergency vehicles, the crash cost savings associated with red light cameras, the design of safe roadways within and around schools in Texas, the modeling of contraflow freeway traffic under evacuation conditions, and the safety effects of separate roads for trucks."--pub. website.
Download or read book FCC Record written by United States. Federal Communications Commission and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guidebook for Integrating Freight Into Transportation Planning and Project Selection Processes written by National Cooperative Highway Research Program and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 2007 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores a framework for incorporating freight needs for all modes into transportation planning and priority programming by state, regional, metropolitan, local, and special transportation agencies. The report covers technical issues, organizational suggestions, and communication requirements of freight planning and programming. A project final report that describes the case studies used to help develop the guidebook and other resources used in the guidebook is available as NCHRP Web-Only. Document 112.
Download or read book A Methodology for Integrating Roadway Safety Hardware Management Into the Overall Highway Asset Management Program written by Zongzhi Li and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Integrating safety in the rural transportation planning process written by Nicole Waldheim and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Public Safety Interoperability written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats, and International Relations and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Options for Enhancing the Effectiveness of Virginia s Safety Management System written by Jack D. Jernigan and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1993, Virginia began to formalize the relationships and organizational structure for its Safety Management System (SMS). Although the SMS is no longer a federal requirement, Virginia decided to continue its implementation. The Focal Point for the SMS is within the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), the SMS Steering Committee in Virginia is composed of representatives of VDOT, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Virginia State Police, the Office of Emergency Medical Services of the Virginia Department of Health, and the Commission on the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program. This report outlines options that have the potential to enhance the ability of Virginia's SMS to facilitate traffic safety in the Commonwealth. The report recommends that Virginia's SMS Steering Committee consider the following options: (1) establish an SMS coordinator position, (2) formalize a strategic planning process, (3) use the SMS to vitalize local traffic safety commissions, (4) encourage the use of the holistic corridor approach by community traffic safety programs, (5) provide for more integral involvement of the public health community in Virginia's SMS, (6) determine whether electronic communication would further Virginia's transportation safety goals, and (7) provide for the implementation of improved traffic records.
Download or read book Development of a Master File of Essential Highway Safety Planning and Evaluation Data written by Clinton H. Simpson and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration requires each state to file an Annual Highway Safety Work Program as a prerequisite for obtaining federal section 402 safety monies. However, the work program serves as more than a mechanism for obtaining funds; it induces planning, programming, and budgeting of highway safety projects. The Commonwealth of Virginia has endorsed the work program concept and is continually striving to improve its highway safety planning process. The most recent improvement in Virginia's highway safety planning process was embodied in a report by Ferguson and Simpson that introduced the concept of "Problem Identification/Management by Objectives" to the state's work program. Local highway safety commissions and state traffic safety agencies were asked to complete their annual work program submissions using this concept, the intent being to enhance the quality of their planned highway safety activities. This report attempts to further implement the concept by offering refinements to the Ferguson-Simpson approach. Under these refinements, the local commissions and state agencies are not asked to generate much of the problem identification data; the necessary information is provided them. These data should aid the local commissions and state agencies in identifying problem areas needing attention. This approach was well received when first used in preparing Virginia's FY '77 Annual Highway Safety Work Program. However, the methods of compiling and disseminating information proved quite laborious and time-consuming. Therefore, this report recommends further revisions be made to the process by automating various parts of the retrieval, assimilation, and dissemination stages.
Download or read book Integrating Sustainability Into the Transportation Planning Process written by and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 2005 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ensuring Operability During Catastrophic Events written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Homeland Security. Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Abstracts State Appalachian Development Plans and Investment Programs for Fiscal Year written by Appalachian Regional Commission and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Advances in Transportation and Health written by Mark Nieuwenhuijsen and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2020-04-21 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transportation and Health provides state-of-the-art knowledge on the many linkages between transport and health, the available tools needed to estimate and evaluate the health impacts of transport, future technologies, the developments that can change the direction and magnitude of the health impacts, and the policy and education issues that can result in better practice and knowledge translation. The book provides valuable information on how and why to take health into consideration in transport planning and policy, showing how to estimate the impacts of transport on health in planning, policymaking, education and workforce development. Explores the latest advances on the full spectrum of connections between transport and health Offers a "roadmap" on how transport impacts health Includes tools for analyzing and estimating the health impacts of transport Shows what research and practice gaps need attention Includes contributions from leading scholars, practitioners and policymakers