Capital District                                                                                                       May 14, 2004

Transportation Committee                                                                                                           

 

RECORD OF MEETING

WORKING GROUP B

 

 

DATE/TIME/PLACE: May 6, 2004, 10:00 AM; CDTC Offices

 

ATTENDANCE: Pat Bennison (NYSDOT), Bob Hansen (NYSDOT R-1)Brian Menyuk (NYSDOT); Sreekumar Nampoothiri (CDTC); Chris O'Neill (CDTC), Henry Peyrebrune; Deb Stacey (CDTC); Tom Werner (NYSDOT R-1); Kristina Younger (CDTA).

 

DISCUSSION SUMMARY:

 

·       Kristina Younger provided a PowerPoint presentation that described CDTA’s current and planned ITS activities.  CDTA recently invested $1/2 million for a computer package that performs on-demand route scheduling.  Basically, the customer will be able to get on-line, identify two points and receive a list of bus routes (and times) that serve those two points.

 

All of CDTA’s fareboxes were replaced in January 2004.  These are smart card capable and interface with AVL to provide stop by stop statistics. CDTA has installed a myriad of additional ITS technology:

 

On the buses:

AVL

Radio

APC

Announcements (Audio & Visual)

Silent Alarm

Mechanical Alerts

In Dispatch:

Workstations replace consoles

Monitoring

Recording

On the Street:

Scheduled Arrival Time (Actual Arrival Time/2005) at major stops

On the Web (www.cdta.org):

Rider Alerts

Trip Planning (Coming in 2005) 

Contract Notices

 

In addition, CDTA and CDTC staffs are working on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in the Route 5 corridor from Schenectady to Albany.  This corridor has 72 intersections and is 17 miles in length. Signal priority is being installed at 34 of the intersections; three will be on line as a pilot next week.  The remaining intersections will be operational with the signal priority software by the end of the summer. Essentially, the technology will employ a catch-up strategy at minor intersections, allowing buses to keep on schedule if they are falling behind.

 

·       It was suggested that the working group should capture “lessons learned” from NYSDOT, NYSTA and CDTA regarding deployment and maintenance of ITS technologies.

 

·       It was also suggested that all three entities produce a spreadsheet similar to the one that CDTA produced and shared with the group.  Several columns should be added to the spreadsheet, adding detail on existing technologies and expected expansion.  Deb Stacey will annotate the spreadsheet and distribute it to the working group for their input.  Brian, Jill and Kristina will complete the matrix once the format is finalized.

 

·       CDTC staff efforts on data mining the MIST data were discussed.  Sree Nampootheri presented an analysis of speed and delay data using MIST for twelve locations on the Northway. It was noted that there is a problem with the accuracy of the data for Exit 8A and the Thruway ramps.  Several suggestions were made with regard to additional analysis:

¨     Extrapolate where there are holes in the data

¨     Look at March data in more detail

¨     Change the threshold for excess VHD from exit 8A south, where the speed limit is 55mph.

¨     Present the data in a visual (graphic) format

¨     Add a narrative that explains what the data means (from a planning perspective)

¨     Correlate the data with incidents

 

·       Bob Hansen distributed information regarding pavement and bridge needs in the Capital District for a thirty year horizon (2005-2035). He noted that his analysis considered traffic volumes and truck traffic damage, but that capacity improvements/expansions were not included in the figures shown.  Bob also noted that Thruway costs are not included.  The bottom line showed a conservative estimate that pavement needs will cost $1.1 billion and bridge needs will cost over $330 million.  These costs are not inflated and do not include ramp work.

 

·       It was suggested that the Thruway Authority perform a needs analysis similar to the one presented by NYSDOT, using the same unit costs and assumptions.

 

 

ACTION ITEMS: 

 

·       Deb Stacey will revise CDTA’s ITS matrix and send it to the working group for their review.  The final matrix will be emailed to CDTA, NYSTA and NYSDOT for their completion.

·       Jill Ross Schmelz will complete the ITS infrastructure matrix and will prepare a pavement and bridge needs analysis similar to the one provided by NYSDOT (using the same cost assumptions).

·       Kristina Younger will complete the ITS infrastructure matrix .

·       Brian Menyuk will complete the ITS infrastructure matrix .

 

·       Bob Hansen will detail the “ifs” that were assumed in NYSDOT’s bridge needs assessment and identify cost estimates for various “what if” scenarios.

·       Sreekumar Nampoothiri will continue to work on summarizing and analyzing the MIST data.  Feasible performance measures will be developed for Working Group discussion. He will ask CDTC’s GIS specialist to prepare a large, simple map of the expressway system for use as a visual aid in the Working group discussions.

 

 

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, June 3, 2004 from 10:00 to 12:00 noon, at CDTC’s office.  NOTE: CDTC will be at their new offices in June.  The address is 1 Park Place, Albany, NY 12205.  The telephone number will remain the same.  The building is on the west side of Wolf Road, just north of 50 Wolf Road (NYSDOT Main Office) and sits behind 80 Wolf Road.  Visitors should turn onto Park Place, two driveways north of the driveway for Chilis.