Arterial TSMO Strategies based on Florida Transportation Agency Survey

Transportation system management and operations (TSMO) is receiving significant attention from state and local transportation agencies looking to improve and enhance the performance of existing multimodal infrastructure, preserve capacity, and improve safety, mobility, and reliability of the transportation system. TSMO is important for state and local transportation agencies because it can help them address the challenges of growing travel demand, traffic congestion, safety concerns, and environmental impacts without relying exclusively on costly and time-consuming infrastructure improvement and expansion. TSMO can also enhance the coordination and collaboration among different agencies. By applying arterial TSMO strategies, state and local transportation agencies can deliver safer, more efficient, and more effective transportation services on arterial roadways to the public. This paper performed a literature review on nationwide strategies for arterial Management & Operations (M&O) and Operations & Maintenance (O&M), conducted a statewide agency survey of Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) districts and Florida local transportation agencies on arterial TSMO strategies, and assessed the agency needs, performance monitoring process, identified issues, agency partnerships, and various arterial strategies.

A total of 91 out of 267 agencies participated in the survey, including all seven FDOT Districts and 84 Florida local transportation agencies ranging from small local transportation agencies to agencies in very large metropolitan areas in Florida. About 15 percent of the participating agencies handled more than 450 signalized intersections under their jurisdiction and most of the respondents have signalized intersections on state roads. Approximately 95 percent of the agencies partnered with other state and local agencies on addressing operational and maintenance problems. About 47 percent of agencies mentioned lack of manpower to fully support their partnership or agreements. The issues of traffic signal timing, traffic signal coordination, vehicle detection, equipment problems, and stuck pedestrian push buttons were identified as having a high priority to address. The arterial strategies including traffic signal timing adjustment or retiming, traffic signal maintenance, active arterial management (AAM), automated traffic signal performance measures (ATSPM), emergency vehicle preemption (EVP), and integrated corridor management (ICM) were among top effective strategies.

The survey results cover agency demographics, partnerships among agencies, performance monitoring tools, issues identified during the performance monitoring, priority of identified issues, arterial TSMO strategies used to address identified issues, the effectiveness of various arterial TSMO strategies, challenges on implementing arterial TSMO strategies, and agency needs on funding, resources, and training to successfully implement arterial TSMO strategies to improve the safety, mobility, efficiency and reliability of transportation systems on our arterial roadways.  

This paper performs a comprehensive review of national strategies for arterial M&O and O&M, and provides valuable insights to understand the challenges, needs, partnerships, and strategies of FDOT districts and local transportation agencies to monitor the effectiveness of traffic operations and enhance TSMO of arterial roadways. It will support the future development of guidance materials to support transportation agencies in improving arterial safety, mobility, efficiency, and travel reliability.