ICM Houston IH 10

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ICM Houston IH 10

• John M. Gaynor, P.E., Director
• Transportation Management Systems
• Texas Department of Transportation, Houston
  District
• Houston TranStar

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Operational Why Houston needs ICM on IH 10

• The corridor is home to more than 890,000
  residents in about 350,000 households
• The corridor is projected to add over 1,000,000
  more residents in the next two decades.
• The corridor has over 617,000 employees and three
  major employment centers
• The Energy Corridor
• The Westchase District
• The Uptown Houston/Galleria

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Operational Why Houston needs ICM on IH 10

• Total VMT in corridor 20 million miles per day
  (2002)
• Estimated 380,000 transit passenger miles per day
  (2002)
• AM PM Peak Periods - IH 10 US 290 HOVLs
• Carry 330 buses (per day)
• Carry 15,000 vehicles (per day)
• Carry 43,000 passenger trips (per day)
• 9270 parking spaces at Park Rides on IH 10 US
  290
• 7500 daily parking utilization at Park Rides
  (70-110, avg. 80)

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Operational Why Houston needs ICM on IH 10

• Major Corridor Infrastructure
• IH 10 (HOVML)
• IH 610
• US 59
• US 290 (HOVML)
• Westpark Tollway
• Sam Houston
• (Beltway 8) Toll Road
• State Highway 6
• State Highway 99
• Transit Capability
• Rapid Transit (on HOV)
• Express (coming soon)
• Local

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Operational Why Houston needs ICM Corridor on
IH 10
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HCDR Detail Corridor
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Operational Why Houston needs ICM on IH 10

• Significant Mainlane Congestion on IH 10
• Solid line shows speeds eastbound (2004)
• Congested from 6 am to 8 pm

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Operational - Local/Express Bus Transit Components
US 290
Sam Houston Tollway
State Hwy 6
IH 10
Westpark Tollway
I 610
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Operational How ICM will help our Site

• Currently there is good coordination between
  agencies.
• TranStar is a common platform for ITS data, but
  system is largely reactive at this time (lots of
  data coming in, limited capability for control,
  but very robust incident management capability).
• ICM will integrate more ITS data that spans modes
  and facilities.
• The ICM system will ultimately take the real-time
  transportation system ITS data, compile it for
  more coordinated operational use among the
  partner agencies, then disseminate a consolidated
  transportation system information package that
  crosses agencies, travel modes, and travel
  facilities.

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Operational How ICM will help our Site

• Goals for the ICM System on IH 10 in Houston
• All agencies operate with a systematic view of
  movement within the corridor
• consideration that an individual agencys goals
  and objectives will not trump, or conflict with,
  the effectiveness of the combined agency ICM
  objectives
• Enhancement of corridor mobility and reliability
• manage delay and utilize spare capacity within
  the corridor by temporal, route and/or mode
  shifts
• Providing comprehensive traveler information in
  the corridor
• Personalized for all modes, in real-time
• Enhancement of incident management within the
  corridor
• Incidents/crashes
• Special, planned events , including construction
• Emergencies

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Institutional Who are the Houston ICM
Stakeholders

• TranStar Partners
• State of Texas (TxDOT, TxDPS)
• Harris County (HCPID, HCTRA, HCOEM)
• City of Houston, Texas (Traffic, Police/Fire)
• Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County
  (METRO/PD)
• State, County, Local Law Enforcement
• Smaller Cities/Villages (8)
• Federal Agencies (FHWA/FTA/DHS/FEMA)
• Private towing companies, information service
  providers, fleet operators
• In all, 15 primary stakeholders and 14 secondary
  stakeholders were identified.

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Institutional How Our Site Defined Roles and
Achieved Buy-in Among ICM Stakeholders

• Houston is lucky! The TranStar partnership was
  established over ten years ago with many
  agreements in place and an existing
  organizational structure.
• Some agreements in place
• TranStar Master Operating Agreement
• Fiber sharing agreements (various agencies)
• HOVL/Managed Lanes agreements
• Incident Management agreements
• Very little institutional disagreement existed
  about ICM
• The its our project factor was not present
  so whos the champion?

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Institutional Existing Stakeholder ITS
Infrastructure Subsystems Feeding ICM

• Communication Networks (Fiber Backbone, Wireless
  Networks, and Hardwire (Copper) Communication
  Lines)
• Closed Circuit Television (CCTV)
• Automatic Vehicle Identification System (AVI)
• Spot Speed and Traffic Volume Detection (via
  inductive loops and microwave radar)
• Dynamic Message Signs (DMS)
• Highway Advisory Radio (HAR)
• Freeway Ramp Meters (Flow Signals)
• Traffic Signals/Regional Computerized Traffic
  Signal System (RCTSS)
• Roadway Weather Information System (RWIS)

• Harris County Flood Sensors
• Truck Rollover Ramp Warning System (for
  freeway-to-freeway connectors)
• Automated Traveler Information System
• Regional Incident Management System (RIMS)
• Regional Integrated Traffic Management System
  (RITMS)
• Queue/Congestion Warning Systems
• Regional Maintenance Database Management System
  (RMDBMS)
• Arterial Traffic Signal Systems (RCTSS)
• Transit data, trip scheduling and trip planning

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Technical What our proposed ICMS will look like

• Data inputs from field devices as processed by
  individual subsystems.

The ICM system then processes ICM data and
packages near real-time corridor data for
multi-agency operations and decision support as
well as public consumption
The ICM system processes subsystem data and
prepares ICM multi-agency use
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Technical - DMS Comparison of Freeway to HOV
Travel Times on Katy Freeway

• HOV Travel Times Freeway Travel
  Times

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Technical Traveler Information on Next
Generation PDA
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Technical How our ICMS will facilitate ICM

• The deployment of the ICM concept will require
  the further integration of individual-agency ITS
  elements (not already integrated)
• We will be able to achieve ICM across certain
  networks (for instance, freeway/tollway and
  HOV/transit network) now.
• The AVI travel time system could be combined with
  METROs transit ITS data to produce a traveler
  information system to compare travel times (and
  potentially costs) associated with a choice
  between freeway mainlanes, HOV-carpool, or
  HOV-Bus Rapid Transit.
• The limiting factor to a complete ICMS would be
  the lack of arterial travel time information to
  provide the arterial option(s).

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Technical How our ICMS will facilitate ICM

• ICMS will allow for a more multi-modal view of
  the corridor
• Easier coordination and cooperation
• Access to multi-agency data, single user
  interface, common platform (but agencies can
  repackage if they wish)
• Encourage transit use by providing new, more
  visible source of info
• Encourage management of network junctions and
  interchanges
• Induce discussions on policy and procedures that
  address resource sharing and operations of other
  agency systems
• Provide a single point of traveler information
  multi-modal in nature.

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Lessons Learned Operational

• Agencies are hesitant to turn over complete
  authority to another agency (or corridor
  commander)
• ICM would (in a first generation) operate using a
  cooperative committee of TranStar agency managers
  (physically housed at TranStar) which would make
  operational decisions as a group.
• Decision-makers would be supported with
  ICM-related data and the ICMS decision support
  system
• Determination of system capacity (and
  availability)
• Estimated spatial and temporal incident impacts
• Suggested operational changes based on estimated
  impacts
• Give all agencies a bigger picture of impacts to
  the corridor
• Multi-agency control capability might become
  easier over time

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Lessons Learned Institutional

• Challenges Why do we need ICM in the first
  place?
• Stovepipe deployments are agency specific, but
  there are data elements common and helpful to
  others to better manage system
• What, again, are you going to do with my data?
• Fear of loss of internal control
• Quality control reliability becomes more of an
  issue as more people look at (and use) your data,
  especially the public
• The less-than-majority champion finding the
  push.
• Vision and priority comes from the top, but with
  ICM you have multiple CEOs to deal with
• Getting them all on the same page will move
  things along

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Lessons Learned Institutional Solutions Advice

• Have good direction from leadership (develops
  momentum)
• Have a clear message about why working together
  is important and advantageous
• Encourage agencies to think about being in their
  cohorts position why something I have might be
  important to someone else!
• Helps if team members have not spent entire
  career at one agency or location.
• Important to have a regional ITS Architecture to
  use as a foundation.

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Lessons Learned - Regional ITS Architecture Needed
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Lessons Learned Institutional Solutions Advice

• Think about it from the public user perspective
  what does the public need to make good decisions
  (ask them)
• Work through what-ifs, more importantly dont
  limit yourself to the situations that you
  envision ICM to help
• From the most minor incidents, planned or
  otherwise
• To the most major evacuation or incident events
• Having four agencies under one roof makes things
  easier, but doesnt solve all the issues
• Data from emergency/911 dispatch centers
• Solving data acquisition from proprietary or
  legacy systems

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Lessons Learned Technical

• Systems Engineering isnt easy on simple
  projects, much less complex ones, but dont let
  it scare you focus on the end game!
• Seek input from partners, but dont be afraid to
  suggest new ideas, concepts, or procedures for
  agencies other than your own
• But be willing to listen to others!
• There will be a lot of gaps thats OK, but
  think big
• Identify technical requirements by agency
  affected
• (and there may be more than one agency impacted
  by a requirement)

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• For additional information
• please contact me,
• John M. Gaynor, P.E.
• Email jgaynor_at_houstontranstar.org
• Phone [phone]
• or
• Anthony (Tony) P. Voigt, P.E.
• Email a-voigt_at_tamu.edu
• Phone [phone]

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Questions???