INC NEWS - Fw: Unclogging intersections and an opportunity to get involved in finding solutions to transportation problems in the Triangle

[Mike - Hotmail]

This email posting is an invitation to learn more about transportation issues and solutions from the Regional Transportation Alliance (see below).

The Alliance focuses on large regional transportation initiatives such as turnpikes, transit, and air service.  However, we also devote energy on smaller initiatives that provide more immediate improvements to the traveling public, including intersection improvements.   Three months ago RTA presented Academy X in November 2007 where the mayor and city engineer from Carmel, Indiana highlighted their efforts to install literally dozens of roundabouts in their growing community.  You can download the roundabout presentation from that session, along with related files including a corridor animation, here.

 

On Thursday, May 8, from 2pm-3:30p in Downtown Cary, the Alliance will host a regional Transportation Solutions Forum on intersection innovations ("Academy XI").  

 

The event will include a presentation by several NCDOT senior staff members, including State Congestion Management Engineer Jim Dunlop, PE and State Traffic Engineer Kevin Lacy, PE that will highlight some of the intersection and corridor innovations that the Department has undertaken within North Carolina, including the Chapel Hill superstreet that will be completed this spring.

 

Thank you for your interest in, and support of, critical investments in mobility infrastructure in our region.  Please read the detailed info and contact Joe Milazzo II [919.664-7065, joe at letsgetmoving.org] with questions or to submit entries.  Look forward to learning about the great intersection improvement efforts that have been undertaken by Alliance members and other organizations/firms throughout the US! 

 

Let's get moving,

 

Fred Burchett, PE
2008 Alliance multimodal transportation chair

 

cc Rusine Mitchell-Sinclair, Alliance chair
    Joe Milazzo II, PE, Alliance executive director 

  


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Regional Transportation Solutions Forum

Unclogging key intersections -- Academy XI 

Thursday, May 8, 2008

2 pm - 3:30 pm

Herb Young Community Center, Cary

 

 

Request for submission of completed intersection innovation projects by Alliance members

 

 

The Regional Transportation Alliance business leadership group would like to highlight innovative intersection and corridor treatments that have improved mobility and safety.  If your organization has developed one or more completed innovative intersection designs or operational improvements -- either within or outside of North Carolina -- we invite you to submit that project(s) for consideration by Alliance leadership for potential presentation on May 8th.

 

Our primary focus will be intersection projects that have improved mobility (vehicular, pedestrian, transit) and/or safety without involving major road widening or significant right-of-way acquisition.   The improvements can be limited to peak hours, off-peak hours, or all day.  Successful projects may have included some of the following example elements:

 - Narrow right-of-way/context sensitive design components
 - Directional left or right turns into or out of adjacent developments in advance of the intersection  
 - Innovative signal timing or phasing that reduces idling, emissions, and vehicle or pedestrian delay
 - Dynamic phasing or lane arrangements by time of day
 - Use of unsignalized roundabouts (single-lane, double-lane, turbo, etc.) 

 - Roundabouts with signals operating during peak periods 

 - Channelization or other efforts to improve pedestrian flow and access

 - Partial or complete grade separation (e.g., Echelon, partial-cloverleaf, etc. interchanges) 

 - Square loops or other innovative at-grade turning roadways

 - Priority measures that improve transit while minimizing deleterious impacts to other travelers
 - etc. 

 - The above is a partial list and you are not limited to the above elements.  We encourage you to submit your "best intersection" or "best grade separation" (or both).

 

 

Requirements:  Simply these:  

  a.. The project must be complete and open to traffic by the time you submit it.   
  b.. Your submission must be e-mailed to us with a brief project description of what the improvement did and how it works, along with your organization's role in the project.  
  c.. You must include at least one photo, drawing, or (link to an) animation or video that convey how the project works. 
  d.. You must include the approximate cost of the project and approximately when it opened to traffic.  
Make it simpler:  Please summarize the project in a concise manner so that Alliance leadership can easily see the "gist" of what the project does.  If selected, we will review and edit your presentation to ensure that it is accessible to the widest possible audience, including any media present. 

 

Make it stronger:  If you have any before/after delay or safety data that highlights the improvement, please include that in the description. 

 

Make it "closer":  While not a requirement, if you have any suggestions of existing Triangle intersections that might benefit from considering these improvements, that would be a nice touch.

 

Make it on time (deadline):  We will give first consideration to project submissions received by April 2, 2008, with a late submission deadline of April 23, 2008.  All submissions should be e-mailed to joe at letsgetmoving.org.  If you do not receive a "we have received your submission" response within one business day, please call 919.664-7065.  Alliance leadership will begin reviewing the submissions in early April and will notify presenters as soon as presentations are selected.

 

Make it there:  Plan to attend the event whether or not you submit an entry, or whether or not your submission is selected by Alliance leadership for this Academy.  We anticipate having additional Transportation Solutions Forums in the future -- indeed, this will be the eleventh Academy hosted by the Alliance -- and we need the ongoing support of all friends of regional mobility.

 

Questions?  Please contact Alliance Executive Director Joe Milazzo II, PE  [919.664-7065, joe at letsgetmoving.org] with questions. 





 
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