Capital District                                                                                                      March 5, 2004

Transportation Committee                                                                                                           

 

RECORD OF MEETING

WORKING GROUP B

 

DATE/TIME/PLACE: March 4, 2004, 10:00 AM; CDTC Offices

 

ATTENDANCE: Tom Werner (NYSDOT); Kristina Younger (CDTA); Brian Menyuk (NYSDOT); Henry Peyrebrune; Jill Ross-Schmelz (NYSTA); Sreekumar Nampoothiri (CDTC); Deb Stacey (CDTC); Chris O'Neill (CDTC).

 

DISCUSSION SUMMARY:

 

·       A status report was given on the New Visions 2030 plan update, including the work of the Quality Region Task Force and the Travel Task Force.  Background documents that were produced so far will be e-mailed to members of Working Group B.

 

·       The I-87 Corridor Study was discussed.  Interest was expressed in having products of this study e-mailed to members, or having excerpts of the study sent.

 

·       Recent developments in ITS were described by Tom Werner including IEN (Information Exchange Network), the new Winter Travel Advisory, and the upcoming TRANSMIT project.  Tom Werner suggested that we ask Pat Bennison to give a presentation on these initiatives at the next meeting.

 

·       The Thruway Albany Corridor Study was discussed.  The study will conclude at the end of May, leaving different alternatives that were analyzed as concepts for consideration.  The report handed out at the public meeting will be made available to working group members.  The mainline barrier concept was seen as intriguing to this group.

 

·       It was suggested that the NYSDOT study of noise impacts for expressways be reviewed by Working Group B.

 

·       The CDTC effort to mine the MIST data set was discussed.  It was suggested that this group should discuss what performance measures should be derived from the MIST data for evaluating ITS and expressway options.  Performance measures should be developed so that they are readily understood by the public.  One example of this could be to design some performance measures that can be compared to the measures of congestion that Texas Transportation Institute publishes annually.  In developing performance measures, it should be kept in mind that system reliability is what people care about.  Safety should be considered in performance measures, although it is difficult to quantify.  For example, it is not possible to measure the secondary accidents that are currently being prevented by incident management efforts.

 

·       Tom Werner said that future costs of ITS may be increasingly paid for by the private sector.  This may include future built-in vehicle on-board navigation systems that may someday make variable message signs obsolete; and private investment in monitoring vehicle data, volumes and speeds.

 

·       ITS capital costs for equipment are becoming less expensive over time.  A large part of financial need is really more institutional than financial: for example, CDTA negotiating with four different educational institutions to agree on the format for smart card usage; the need for training; providing adequate staff for operations and maintenance.  This goes beyond having enough funding for operations.  Careful design of the ITS capital investment can result in lower maintenance needs.

 

·       Documentation of costs for maintaining expressway facilities through 2030 is important and will need to be comprehensive and include special costs for specific structures.  Infrastructure needs should be considered separately from potential costs of adding capacity.

 

·       Working Group B meetings are tentatively scheduled for the first Thursday of each month from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon.

 

ACTION ITEMS: 

·       Deb Stacey will email work group members additional information regarding Quality Region Task Force work and Travel Task Force reports. 

·       Jill Ross-Schmelz will provide copies of the Thruway study (already provided to CDTC subsequent to meeting); CDTC will send to Working Group B.

·       Tom Werner will provide data on expressway infrastructure needs, potential costs, and schedules, for structures and pavement sections.  This will be part of a significant work task for the group in developing 30 year expressway needs.

·       Chris O’Neill will ask Pat Bennison to make a presentation on IEN (Information Exchange Network), the new Winter Travel Advisory, and the upcoming TRANSMIT project at the next Working Group B meeting.

·       Sreekumar Nampoothiri will continue to work on summarizing and analyzing the MIST data.  Feasible performance measures will be developed for Working Group discussion.

 

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, April 1, 2004 from 10:00 to 12:00 noon, at CDTC.