AASHTO Domestic Scan Proposal Form



[pic]Domestic Scan Proposal Form

AASHTO is soliciting topic proposals for a Calendar Year 2015 US Domestic Scan Program (NCHRP Panel 20-68A). Each selected scan topic will be investigated through site visits to three to six locations for approximately a two week period or less (type 1), by webinar, (type 2) peer exchange, or (type 3) conducted by a group of eight to 12 transportation professionals with expertise in the selected topic area. Proposed topics should meet the following criteria:

0. Address an important and timely need for information by transportation agencies;

0. Are of interest to a broad national spectrum of people and agencies;

0. Are complex and also “hands-on,” meaning they lend themselves particularly well to exploration through on-site visits; and

0. Are sufficiently focused that the tour participants are able to investigate and understand key issues in the limited time available on the tour.

Before submitting your proposal it is highly recommended that you read What Makes a Good Scan Topic Proposal

This form is designed to collect the full length of your proposal. Sections requiring essays have unlimited space for you to use. Contact information has some limited text. Use your TAB( key to advance to the area where you need to complete information.

Proposals should be returned no later than OCTOBER 15, 2014.

IMPORTANT NOTE on How to save your document: LastNameFirst Initial, underscore_Organization Acronym _CY2015.

Saved Document Name Example: VitaleM_AASHTO_CY2015

If you have more than one, add a number after first initial: VitaleM1_AASHTO_CY2015

Domestic Scan Proposal Contact Information

|Name |MAURICE PALUMBO |Address |Golden Gate Bridge District, P.O. Box 9000, |

| | | |Presidio Station, San Francisco, CA 94129-0601 |

|Title |Traffic Engineer/Principal Planner |E-mail |mpalumbo@ |

|Member Department |Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation Dist. |Telephone number |415-257-4431 |

|AASHTO Committee |SCOTE |Date of submission |10/13/2014 |

Title of Proposed Scan: Best Practices in the Use of Traffic Control Devices for Electronic Toll Collection

Problem Statement (What topic is to be examined? What drives the need for the scan? Why now?)

Toll roads across the US are rapidly adopting cashless forms of payment as an exclusive form of toll collection. Electronic toll collection improves mobility, enhances safety, increases operational efficiency and is convenient to the motorist. However, electronic tolling varies significantly in the form of "All Electronic Tolling (AET)," "Open Road Tolling (ORT)" and "Managed Lanes."

The 2009 MUTCD is the first edition to include traffic control devices for toll facilities. This content was fundamentally developed to establish signing consistency by toll operators that collect tolls manually and electronically. While the toll industry has embraced the mandates of national interoperability, the emergence of AET, ORT and Managed Lanes has highlighted the significant lack of guidance in the MUTCD that warn, guide and inform motorists on roads and lanes with cashless toll collection.

Sign engineers for toll roads are consistently challenged with effectively communicating: accepted forms of payment, toll rates, and regulatory/warning and guide messages--in an environment with traffic operating at highway speeds or on a road with a high proportion of unfamiliar drivers--while conforming with 2009 MUTCD design principles, standards and guidelines.

Further improvements to traffic operations and safety can be achieved through consistent signing on toll roads with electronic forms of payment. A scan will provide a review of practices that have (and have not) worked and establish a foundation for future revisions of the MUTCD. Without a summary of best practices, individual toll authorities will continue to independently implement signs that are inconsistent among toll roads and "non-compliant" with the MUTCD.

Scan Scope (What specific subject areas are to be examined? Which cities and states might be visited? Which agencies/organizations (including specific departments or types of staff if applicable)?

Scan will review and compare traffic control devices used in electronic toll collection. Specifically: number of signs (in advance and following a toll collection point), legends and symbols used, message prioritization, sign sequencing and spacing, toll schedule signs (fixed and variable tolls), toll collection requirements and exemptions (e.g., HOV and/or transponder), toll payment options (pre-paid, mailed invoices, on-line), exit numbers vs. exit names for managed lanes, relationships between regulatory/warning/guide signs, option lane applications at toll collection points, static and variable message signs, pavement markings, sign placement (median, sign bridge, shoulder), sign structure considerations (size, maintenance and power).

Toll authorities with the most experience to date with electronic toll collection will be visted (e.g., Colorado, Florida, Texas, California, Illinois, Maryland). Within these agencies, staff that have developed traffic control devices will be consulted to discuss site-specific challenges and criteria used that address signs and pavement markings installed on their roads. Staff could include (but not be limited to) traffic engineers, roadside operations and maintenance, and public information officers.

Anticipated Scan Results (What key information is to be gained? What information is to be shared after the scan? Who would the audience be for this information?)

Based on site-specific challenges, forms of electronic toll collection used, and customer feedback; identify how the principles, standards and guidelines of the 2009 MUTCD have been (or have not been) applied; identify how successful a MUTCD-modified sign or a "non-compliant" sign or pavement marking have enhanced driver comprehension, traffic operations and safety; identify recommendations for new standards, guidelines or considerations to be included in future editions of the MUTCD.

It is envisioned the findings of this scan will be disseminated through TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) publications.

Since there is very little research that compares the 2009 MUTCD with the best practice, the results of this research will benefit any highway authority that currently operates an existing (or is considering a future) toll road or managed lane in the US or abroad.

Benefits Expected (Including potential impacts on current technology or procedures)

The 2009 MUTCD was a significant "first step" in achieving consistency in the use of traffic control devices for toll roads in the US. This document was not able to forsee the exponential growth in electronic toll collection methods used on the nation's busiest roads.

This scan will form the basis for the "second step" to assist in the MUTCD to be based on best practices and to achieve greater signing and pavement marking consistency on our roads.

This scan will also benefit state DOT's with managed lane facilities and the toll industry's engineering professionals as it will clearly depict signing inconsistency between states and toll roads. This scan will incorporate emerging best practices within these toll roads and benefit the greater USDOT community in their planning for the expansion of user-funded transportation facilities. At the same time, the toll industry's engineers will benefit from these first hand observations as many of our stop-and-go toll cash facilities consider modernization.

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