THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2016 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 30, NO 1 FEB RU ARY 29, 2016 Dis turb ing Trends in High way Safety in the U.S.A. Traf fic Fatal i ties Increase Sig nif i cantly - State Leg is la tors Pay Lit tle Atten tion The lat est sta tis tics from the National High way Traf fic Safety Admin is tra tion (NHTSA) show a sig nif i cant increase in traf fic fatal i ties for 2015. The Advo cates for High way & Auto Safety (Advo cates) also deter mined that all states are still miss - ing critically important safety laws, and that 2015 expe ri enced the few est num ber of states enact ing safety laws since Advo - cates began pub lish ing the report in 2004. These are two dis turb ing trends asso ci ated with high way safety. The Advo cates are con tin u ing their effort to per suade more states to pass impor tant safety laws. Across the nation, leg is la tures are miss ing in action while more peo ple are being killed in motor vehi - cle crashes. Last year only six states improved their high way safety laws while early pre dic tions show deaths on the rise for the first half of the year. We are miss ing state lead ers who are will ing to fight for and advance proven life sav ing laws. More peo ple are dying on our roads and unfor tu - nately, fewer Gov er nors and state leg is la - tors are mak ing safety a pri or ity. As leg is la tures kick into gear in 2016, we urge them to advance these laws. They will save lives and save tax payer dol lars, said Jackie Gillan, Pres i dent of Advo cates. Ms. Gillan also empha sized how impor tant enforce ment of the safety laws that already exist is, and that a pri mary enforce ment law (vehi cles can be stopped and fined based solely on a pri mary law) is much more effec tive than a sec ond ary enforce - ment law which requires a primary enforcement infringement first. At the unveil ing of the Advo cates 2016 Roadmap of High way Safety Laws which doc u ments how the U.S.A. is pro - gress ing in high way safety laws, Dr. Mark Alle ga tions that New HOT Lanes on I-405 North of Seattle Caus e Addi tional Delay on Gen eral Pur pose Lanes Refuted by WSDOT Inrix Analysis Challenged; HOT Lanes Use Exceeds Esti mates A num ber of news reports over the past cou ple of weeks have claimed that the imple men ta tion of Express Toll Lanes (HOT lanes) on I-405 north of Seat tle are caus ing addi tional delay on the gen eral pur pose lanes. These claims are based on a report issued by Inrix. The WSDOT replied through a report issued by Mark E. Hallenbeck, Direc tor, Rosekind, NHTSA Administrator stated, NHTSA s esti mates for the first six months of 2015 show an alarm ing rise in Please turn to Page 10 Wash ing ton State Trans por ta tion Cen ter. In the report, it is stated that the Inrix anal - y sis used data from a lim ited num ber of loca tions (four) and pro duced a biased review of the per for mance of the cor ri dor. Given the data resources that Inrix has at its dis posal, one must won der why the paper does not pres ent a full review of the Please turn to Page 11 Inside Sur veys....page 13 Requests for Pro pos als....page 19 Confer ences...page 20 Two Express Toll Lanes on I-405 north of Seattle. (Photo: Courtesy of WSDOT)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30, NO. 1 Page 2 Kan sas City Trans por ta tion Au thor ity and Bridj Forms Partnership to Provide Mobility Options Ford to Pro vide Ve hi cles In a unique ar range ment, the Kan sas City Area Trans por ta tion Au thor ity, the Ur ban tech nol ogy com pany Bridj, and the Ford Mo tor Com pany will soon start a pi lot pro - gram to add a van ser vice to ex ist ing tran sit ser vices and other trans por ta tion ser vices such as carsharing and taxi ser vices. To day, we are bring ing an other tran sit op tion to the re gion with the in tro duc tion of microtransit, said Robbie Makinen, KCATA pres i dent and CEO. By com bin - ing the in tel li gence of Bridj tech nol ogy with ca pa ble and flex i ble Ford Tran sit ve - hi cles, we are cre at ing a seam less and bor - der less trans por ta tion net work for our res i - dents that is easy to use, com fort able and af ford able. Ride KC: Bridj is sched uled to launch in early March. Bridj s plat form de ter - mines where rid ers want to go and how to get them there most ef fi ciently. Us ing the Bridj mo bile app, rid ers can re quest on-de - mand shut tle ser vice that they can ac cess via pop-up shut tle stations. Our goal is to make peo ple s lives better by chang ing the way the world moves, said Erica Klampfl, global mo bil - ity so lu tions man ager, Ford Re search and Ad vanced En gi neer ing. The Ford Smart Mo bil ity plan sup ports our com mit ment to in no va tion, and is aimed spe cif i cally at de - vel op ing smarter mo bil ity ser vices. We are ex cited that Ford Tran sit was se lected for Ride KC: Bridj be cause this is one of many pro jects that will help us gain in sights into what works and de velop smarter, more con nected mo bil ity so lu tions and ser - vice-ori ented prod ucts. Ten 14-seat er Ford Tran sit pas sen ger vans will be used for the pi lot pro gram. Bright lo gos on the sides will make for easy visibility. Bridj will be an em pow er ing tool that will of fer one more op tion to make it eas ier for peo ple to get around, said KCATA s Makinen. KCATA is a place where bus, bike, street car and rapid tran sit come to - gether to cre ate a seam less and bor der less trans por ta tion net work that s easy and friendly to use. Bridj will be a valu able ad - di tion to Kan sas City s mix of trans por ta - tion op tions. The one-year pi lot pro gram ini tially will in clude down town Kan sas City, the A Ride KC: Bridj van. (Photo: Cour tesy KCATA) near east and west sides, Hos pi tal Hill, Crown Cen ter, por tions of Mid town, Uni - ver sity of Kan sas Med i cal Cen ter and the His toric 18th and Vine Jazz dis trict. It will aug ment and serve as a gate way to other forms of tran sit as many pick-up lo ca tions will be at bus stops and ar eas served by ex - ist ing Kan sas City tran sit and bike-share sys tems. Ad di tional routes will be added based on rider de mand as iden ti fied through Bridj technology. Only 18 per cent of jobs in the Kan sas City re gion are ac ces si ble within 90 min - utes when us ing ex ist ing mass tran sit op - tions, said Bridj s George, cit ing fig ures from the Brookings In sti tute. By im prov - ing ac cess to jobs, Ride KC: Bridj is a cat - a lyst for so cial and eco nomic op por tu nity, and an ex am ple of what is pos si ble when cit ies adopt tech no log i cal in no va tion and work in collaboration with private entities to cre ate a truly mod ern city. For more in for ma tion, con tact Cindy Baker at Email: CBaker@kcata.org, Tel. (816) 346-0209. The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN 10404880, is pub lished monthly, except dur ing Jan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law - ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta - tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703)764-0512, Fax: (703)764-0516, e-mail: edi tors@lawleypub lications.com. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri - od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA 22009-2300. The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishes cur rent news on all modes and aspects related to urban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is an inde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2016, Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho - to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis - sion, in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion from the Edi tor is expressly pro hib ited. Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ity or lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com - plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi - tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to the date the mate rial was received and/or pub lished. Publisher/Editor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Senior Edi tor/writer: Carol Ochs
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 3 Los An geles Makes Avail able a Unique App Cov er ing All Forms of Trans por ta tion Working in Partnership With Xerox The City of Los An geles re cently launched a new app, de vel oped in part ner ship with Xerox, to en able com mu ters and trav el ers in gen eral to com pare op ti mized trips via var i ous modes, ap ply per sonal pref er - ences, and make book ings where ap pli ca - ble. In ad di tion, the app will col lect anon y - mous travel data that is fore seen to be use - ful for trans por ta tion plan ning pur poses. The City of Los An geles pro vided the fol low ing in for ma tion about the app: The City of Los An geles is in tro duc ing the Go LA app, pow ered by Xerox, a so lu - tion that in te grates all the avail able meth - ods of get ting around the sec ond larg est metro area in the United States. Un like other ef forts to im prove the daily com - mute, the Go LA app cap tures the uni verse of trans por ta tion op tions and com putes the short est, cheap est, and most sus tain able way to get to your des ti na tion. The City of Los An geles is pi lot ing the app in part ner - ship with Xerox to pro vide trav el ers with op ti mized trans por ta tion choices to sim - plify ur ban mo bil ity. The Go LA app will help Angelenos get where they want to go by con nect ing smart tech nol ogy with in fra struc ture, said Los An geles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Go LA gives us ers the op por tu nity to move around in smarter, faster, cheaper, and greener ways by link ing them to all the trans por ta - tion op tions avail able to them from free - ways to Metro to bike routes while also pro vid ing the city with use ful data to help us make pol icy de ci sions that benefit residents. The app ag gre gates and cal cu lates the time, cost, car bon foot print, and health ben e fits from walk ing, bik ing, driv ing your own car, park ing, tak ing pub lic tran - sit, as well as the emerg ing pri vate trans - por ta tion op tions such as Lyft, Zipcar and FlitWays giv ing us ers a va ri ety of ways to reach their des ti na tion. Da vid Cummins, se nior vice pres i dent, Mobility Solutions, Xerox, said, There are in di vid ual apps for pub lic tran sit, car shar ing and other trans por ta tion op tions but the Go LA app cap tures the ar ray of op - tions in a hy per-lo cal way, mix ing and match ing both pub lic and pri vate trans por - ta tion op tions. Be yond the seam less travel ex pe ri ence for cit i zens, Go LA will help the city glean important information they can use to ad vance their trans por ta tion systems. The app takes an in di vid ual s des ti na - tion and de sired ar rival time, and cal cu lates the different routes available, categorized by sooner, cheaper, and greener. De - tails pro vided in clude length of trip, price, num ber of cal o ries burned, and how much car bon di ox ide is re leased into the air al - low ing us ers to choose the best op tion to meet their needs. As the app learns more about its user s in di vid ual travel pref er - ences, it will even tu ally rec om mend and high light per son al ized com mut ing op tions. Cus tom ers can also save trips they take of - ten, like from home to work, in their My Rides area of the app. The des ti na tion and pre ferred travel mode data is anon y mously shared with the city and can be used for trans por ta tion plan - A screenshot of a Go Denver app providing information on a multimodal route, similar to the Go LA app. (Image: Cour tesy of Xerox) A screenshot of a Go Denver app providing information on alternative modes, similar to the Go LA app. (Image: Cour tesy of Xerox) ning pur poses and shorter term op ti mi za - tion of trans por ta tion ser vices and cap i tal spend ing. Xerox will be col lect ing trip data and pro vid ing analytics to the City. Xerox is work ing to in te grate book ing and pay ments into the app so us ers can co - or di nate their en tire trip with a sin gle click of a but ton. Fu ture ver sions of the app will also in clude ridesharing so that us ers can carpool with peo ple trav el ing in the same direction, as well as destination parking in for ma tion. Af ter enough data is col - lected, us ers will also be able to cre ate a pro file where they can set goals re lated to their per sonal fit ness, financials and time, and track them within the app. Xerox is the cre ator of the mo bil ity plat form that the Go LA app is built from. It was Xerox who ap proached the City of LA with the idea to im ple ment this Please turn to Page 4
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 4 United Na tions Calls for the Full Im ple men ta tion of Mea sures to Re duce the 1.25 Mil lion Traf fic Fatalities Worldwide Per Year Coun tries Urged to Im ple ment Road Safety Le gal In stru ments The United Na tions Sec re tary Gen eral s Spe cial En voy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, and the UN Eco nomic Com mis sion for Eu - rope (UNECE) Executive Secretary Chris - tian Friis Bach made a call on Gov ern - ments and the au to mo tive in dus try ear lier this month to im ple ment the United Na - tions road safety le gal in stru ments. These are doc u ments that can help coun tries for - mu late ap pro pri ate le gal texts for pro posed leg is la tion on road safety mea sures. Ac cord ing to the UN, ev ery year 1.25 mil lion peo ple die around the world as a re - sult of road crashes and 20 to 50 mil lion more are in jured. It is the num ber one cause of death among young peo ple aged 15-29 and takes the lives of 500 chil dren each day. And 90% of these deaths oc cur in low- and mid dle-in come coun tries, even though they ac count for only 54% of the world s ve hi cles. Vul ner a ble road us ers (e.g. pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of mo tor ized 2-wheel ers and their pas sen - gers) ac count for 50% of the deaths. Af rica has the high est mor tal ity rate, with 26.6 fa - tal i ties per 100,000 population (versus 9.3 in Europe). The in ter na tional com mu nity has com - mit ted to halve road traf fic fa tal i ties by 2020. Over the past de cades, un der the aus - Coun try North Amer ica To tal Reg is tered Ve hi cles (mil lions) pices of UNECE, the United Na tions has de vel oped many con ven tions gov ern ing most as pects of road safety. These le gal in - stru ments are in place and at the dis posal of coun tries to help them build safer ve hi cles and safer roads, with con sis tent traf fic rules and road signs. Clear na tional road safety strat e gies con tain ing goals and tar gets have also Road Traf fic Fa tal i ties per Year Fa tal ity Rate per 100,000 population United States 265 32,700 10.6 Can ada 22 2,100 6.0 Eu rope United King dom 36 1,800 2.9 Neth er lands 10 600 3.4 France 43 3,300 5.1 Ger many 52 3,300 4.3 Af rica Traf fic Fa tal i ties and Rates for Se lected Countries South Af rica 10 13,800 25.1 Ghana 2 2,200 26.2 Notes: Year of data dif fers from coun try to coun try, vary ing from 2008 to 2014. Source of data: "Global Sta tus Re port on Road Safety 2015," World Health Or ga ni za tion. Con tin ued from Page 1 Los An geles Makes Available Unique App plat form which would en cour age res i dents and vis i tors to use al ter nate modes of trans - por ta tion and ul ti mately help ease con ges - tion. The City of LA was a part ner through out the whole pro cess. Pe ter Marx, CTO of the City of Los An geles, gave guid ance and held Xerox to a high stan - dard dur ing the de vel op ment of the app. The Los An geles De part ment of Trans por - tation was also instrumental in including lo cal pub lic trans por ta tion op tions. The City of LA and Xerox worked to - gether for 18 months in ad vance of the launch in Jan u ary. Fu ture im ple men ta tion is likely to take 3-6 months. The Go LA app is now avail able for ios and An droid sys tems in the Ap ple and Google Play stores at www.golaapp.com. A cus tom ized ver sion of this app will soon be made avail able by the City of Den ver. For more in for ma tion, con tact Trevor Eckart at trevor.eckart@text100.com. The photo speaks for it self. (Photo: Cour tesy, the World Health Organization) proven suc cess ful in many coun tries around the world, par tic u larly when cou - pled with in for ma tion cam paigns to mo bi - lize civil so ci ety and strengthen en force - ment mechanisms. Please turn to Page 5
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 5 Tort Liability: Case in Review Signalization of Intersection and Other Factors in Dispute In 2009 a col li sion at a non-sig nal ized in - ter sec tion left three peo ple dead, in clud ing a two-year-old baby. The case was heard in 2014, and on ap peal in 2015, re sulted in a dis sent ing opin ion. The ac ci dent in volved three ve hi cles: the first, con tain ing a mother and her baby, (turn ing left from Riverpointe Drive southbound to High way 49 east bound) was struck by a sec ond ve hi - cle (west bound on High way 49) which was drag rac ing a third ve hi cle. Ac cord ing to the dis sent ing opin ion, the de ci sion to race an other ve hi cle at 86 miles per hour on a res i den tial high way where the speed limit was 55 miles per hour and where both driv ers had chil dren in their ve hi cles was the prox i mate cause of the collision. In 2014 the North Carolina In dus trial Com mis sion ruled that DOT s breach of its duty to in stall a traf fic sig nal at the in ter - sec tion was a prox i mate cause of the ac ci - dent. It held that the in ter ven ing neg li - gence of the two driv ers in volved in the drag race was also a prox i mate cause of the ac ci dent, but not the sole prox i mate The intersection of Highway 49 (east-west) and Riverpointe Drive (southbound approach). At the time of the accident, the intersection was unsignalized. (Photo: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.) cause. As such, the DOT was not in su lated from li a bil ity for its negligence. On ap peal the DOT ar gued that traf fic sig nals were not in tended to keep in di vid - u als from en gag ing in crim i nal acts. Traf - fic laws and traf fic con trol de vices were only ef fec tive when in di vid u als obeyed them. Fur ther, that while it may have fore - seen driv ers ex ceed ing the posted speed Please turn to Page 6 Con tin ued from Page 4 United Na tions Calls for the Full Im ple men ta tion of Mea sures to Reduce Traffic Fatalities Jean Todt and Chris tian Friis Bach de - clared: We urge all UN mem ber States to take their responsibilities and to ratify and fully ap ply the UN road safety le gal in stru - ments. We also call on the mo tor in dus try as a whole to en sure that well-es tab lished safety stan dards are ap plied to all ve hi cles sold in de vel op ing coun tries. We stand ready, with our part ners in the road safety com mu nity, to help coun tries to ac cede and im ple ment these agree ments. We must work to gether to live up to the prom ise made by the in ter na tional com mu nity to save mil lions of lives by 2020. The UNECE is con cen trat ing on the fol - low ing ma jor fac tors as so ci ated with traf - fic fatalities: Speed lim its. Motorcycle helmets: wearing a motor - cy cle hel met cor rectly can re duce the risk of death by al most 40% and the risk of se vere in jury by over 70%. Law en - force ment guar an tees brings use rates to in crease to over 90%. Safe road in fra struc ture. All safety fea tures in ve hi cles, in par tic - u lar the use of seat belts: The use of safety belts re duces the risk of fa tal in - jury by 40 50% in the front seats and be tween 25 75% in the rear seats. Yet in more than 80 coun tries in the world seat belts are not yet com pul sory in front and rear seats. Child re straint sys tems: the use of child seats re duces fa tal ity rates from 50 to 80%. Yet, only 53 coun tries have re - lated legislation. Drunk-driv ing: Ex pe ri ence shows that laws based on a blood al co hol con cen - tra tion limit of no more than 0.05g/dl for the gen eral pop u la tion and 0.02g/dl for young or nov ice driv ers sig nif i cantly re - duces crashes. Only 34 coun tries have a drunk-driv ing law in line with this best practice. The ta ble on page 4 pro vides in for ma tion on how se lected coun tries com pare in terms of fa tal ity rates. For more in for ma tion, con tact the United Na tions Eco nomic Com mis sion for Eu rope In for ma tion Unit Palais des Na - tions, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Swit zer land, tel. +41 (0) 22 917 44 44, Email: info.ece@unece.org
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 6 Con tin ued from Page 5 Tort Liability limit by five or even ten miles per hour, it was im pos si ble to de sign a sub ur ban road - way suit able for safely rac ing at al most 90 miles per hour. The ma jor ity of judges re jected these ar gu ments and af firmed the Com mis sion s rul ing and awards. It held that given the DOT it self had rec om mended, in 2006, the installation of a signal at the intersection. The lack of sight dis tance to and from the in ter sec tion, the speed limit of the road - way, the size and com plex ity of the in ter - sec tion, and the num ber of pre vi ous sim i lar ac ci dents at the site, in di cate the ac ci dent was a fore see able con se quence of DOT s stip u lated breach of duty in failing to install a traffic signal. The dis sent ing opin ion ar gued that the Com mis sion s de ci sion be re versed for two rea sons: DOT s breach of duty was not an ac tual cause of the plain tiffs in ju ries; and even if DOT s breach of duty was an ac - tual cause of the ac ci dent, the in ten tional crim i nal acts of the two rac ing driv ers were unforeseeable and therefore con - sti tuted in de pend ent, in ter ven ing causes which would ab solve DOT of li a bil ity. The ma jor ity re but ted this by not ing that DOT had not raised any ac tual cause ar gu - ments at ei ther the trial nor on ap peal. There fore it could not base its opin ion on ar - gu ments not first made be fore, and passed on by, the In dus trial Com mis sion. Fur ther, that the sole is sue it was au tho rized to an - swer was the sole is sue brought by the DOT to ap peal, viz. that the In dus trial Com mis - sion erred when it failed to de ter mine that the crim i nal acts of third par ties were the sole prox i mate cause of the col li sion. The ma jor ity, fol low ing the Su preme Court, ar gued that it was im ma te rial how many new events were in tro duced if the original cause remained operative and in force. To break the se quence of events and su per sede the neg li gence of the orig i nal wrong doer, the in ter ven ing con duct must be such that the orig i nal wrong doer would have no rea son able ground to anticipate it. With re gard to the test of foreseeability, the ma jor ity held that all that a plain tiff was re quired to prove was that in the exercise of reasonable care, the de fen dant might have fore seen that some in jury would re - sult from his act or omis sion. Fur ther that it was reasonably foreseeable that a vehicle speed ing to ward the un reg u lated in ter sec - tion could lead to the type of ac ci dent and in jury in volved in this case. The fact that the guilty driver was speed ing, and thus break - ing the law, did not render his actions unforeseeable. The ma jor ity also noted that speed ing was prob a bly the most prev a lent in frac tion com mit ted on the high way system. Both the ma jor ity and dis sent ing judges pro duced a num ber of sce nar ios in which the ac ci dent would have oc curred even had there been prop erly func tion ing traf fic sig - nals in the in ter sec tion. The ma jor ity ar gued that plain tiffs bur den did not re quire they prove to an ab so lute cer tainty that the ac ci - dent would not have oc curred had DOT in - stalled sig nals at the site. It noted that it would rarely, if ever, be pos si ble to prove that the in stal la tion of a prop erly func tion - ing traf fic sig nal would have, with out any doubt, pre vented an ac ci dent from occurring in any particular intersection. Fi nally, be cause the ma jor ity found that there was com pe tent ev i dence sup port ing the Com mis sion s find ings of fact, and that these find ings were suf fi cient to sup port its con clu sions, it af firmed the Com mis sion s de ci sion. The dis sent ing opin ion held that the no tion that but for DOT s fail ure to in - stall a traf fic sig nal, the sub ject col li sion would not have oc curred was spec u la tive and was not sup ported by any com pe tent ev i dence. The dis sent ing judge ar gued that plain tiff s ex pert wit ness, a fo ren sic traf fic en gi neer, did not base his tes ti - mony on sci en tific, tech ni cal, or other spe cial ized facts or data that would as sist the trier of fact to un der stand the ev i - dence, be cause it was only based on what he had read from affidavits, and from hearing testimony. He noted that the Su preme Court has held that ex pert opin ion tes ti mony based merely on spec u la tion and con jec ture is of no more value than a lay man s opin ion. He there fore held that the ev i dence was in com - pe tent to sup port the Com mis sion s find ing that had the in ter sec tion been prop erly sig - nal ized the crash would not have oc curred. The dis sent ing opin ion ar gued that the determinative factor was not whether the guilty driver would have obeyed or ig - nored a traf fic sig nal (had there been one) but whether the lack of a traf fic sig nal was the prox i mate cause of the collision. On the is sue of foreseeability, he ar - gued that DOT could not rea son ably fore - see that two driv ers would en gage in a road race, and one ve hi cle would col lide with an other ve hi cle at 86 mph on a 55 mph road way. He held that to di min ish the guilty driver s ac tions to mere speed ing and la bel them rea son ably fore see able was un founded, and could lead to an im - prac ti ca ble stan dard with far-reaching consequences. The west bound ap proach (High way 49) to the in ter sec tion where the fa tal ac ci dent took place. (Photo: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 7 Aus tra lia Em braces Tran sit Ori ented De vel op ment Perth Im ple ment ing Im pres sive Re de vel op ment Above a Tran sit Facility Fac ing steady pop u la tion growth and in - creas ing lev els of con ges tion over the last cou ple of de cades, Aus tra lia is mov ing full steam ahead with tran sit ori ented de vel op - ment (TOD). Mixed use TODs with sig nif - icant residential development in addition to of fice and re tail de vel op ment can ad - dress hous ing needs due to pop u la tion growth. In ad di tion, TOD de vel op ments re sult in lower ve hi cle trip gen er a tion due to higher tran sit and walk trips. A TOD de vel op ment un der way in Perth is an out stand ing ex am ple of the type of TOD de vel op ment that pro vides an at trac - tive, liv able en vi ron ment for work ing, liv - ing and shop ping. Perth City Link is one of the city s most ex cit ing new re de vel op - ments. The de vel op ment is made pos si ble by plac ing a rail line and a bus sta tion un - der ground which will do away with a phys - i cal bar rier be tween the Perth cen tral busi - ness dis trict (CBD) and ar eas to the north. Perth s Pub lic Trans port Au thor ity com - pleted the rail part of the pro ject in 2013. This was fol lowed by under ground ing the Wellington Street Bus Sta tion which is sched uled to be com pleted later this year. A total of 33 acres were created for redevelopment. Perth s Met ro pol i tan Re de vel op ment Au thor ity (the Au thor ity) pro vided the fol - low ing on vi tal com po nents of the Perth City Link re de vel op ment: The Scheme is the term used for the prin - ci pal plan ning tool that will bring the Au - thority s vi sion to life. The Scheme re in - forces the stra te gic plan ning and vi sion ing un der taken by the Au thor ity and con nects to the big ger pic ture by in te grat ing with the wider vi sion for the fu ture of in ner city Perth. The Scheme has the flex i bil ity of an out comes-based ap proach to de vel op - ment. It is sup ported by the Au thor ity s De vel op ment Pol i cies, De sign Guide lines and other plan ning tools to achieve the sus tain able de vel op ment of the Scheme Area. Its main com po nents, chal lenges and principles are listed below: The Scheme is de signed to pro vide op - por tu ni ties for re newal, growth and in - no va tion that can re spond to chang ing en vi ron men tal, eco nomic and so cial trends and chal lenges. Please turn to Page 8 The top photo shows preparation underway to make the Perth City Link TOD development possible. Construction to place a rail link underground is taking place. The Perth Arena - the first phose of development at Perth City Link is completed. The bottom photo is a street view of the Perth Arena. (Photos: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30, NO. 1 Page 8 Product and Industry News An In de pend ent Test Shows That ParkMe Pro vides More Ac cu rate Re sults than Competitor SBD, an au to mo tive tech nol ogy re search firm, con ducted a test to com pare the ac cu - racy in per for mance of two park ing da ta - base ser vices ParkMe and Parkopedia. Ac cord ing to INRIX, the owner of ParkMe, the test re sults show that ParkMe pro vided more ac cu rate re sults than com - pet i tor Parkopedia. The test was lim ited to five cit ies in the U.S. and Ger many. Over - all, ParkMe was more ac cu rate than Parkopedia across a set of at trib utes con - sid ered to be es sen tial to automakers. INRIX ac quired ParkMe in Sep tem ber 2015. ParkMe is a Santa Monica, CA com - pany that helps con sum ers find park ing, make res er va tions and mo bile pay ments world wide. The ac qui si tion al lowed ParkMe to ex pand its data ag gre ga tion and in dus try ex per tise and helps INRIX de - liver a com pre hen sive set of park ing ser - vices, in clud ing find ing, com par ing, re - serv ing, and pay ing for park ing from a smartphone or ve hi cle. With these ex - panded ca pa bil i ties, INRIX has also been able to ex tend the park ing ser vices it offers to Audi, BMW and Lexus, among others. SBD s ground-truth as sess ment looked at 488 ran dom park ing lots in No vem ber 2015 across Berlin, Mu nich and Stuttgart in Ger many, as well as Boston and San Fran cisco in the United States. SBD sent trained data col lec tors to eval u ate on-site at trib utes lot by lot (backed by pho to - graphic ev i dence), then com pared the field re sults to pub lished in for ma tion on re spec - tive ParkMe and Parkopedia websites. From the find ings, SBD as sessed over all ac cu racy scores, and scores per at trib ute, lot and city. INRIX stated that SBD was com pen sated for col lect ing the data, but the as sess ments and scor ing were com - pleted on an objective and independent basis. Ac cord ing to INRIX, ParkMe was 23 per cent more ac cu rate in pro vid ing the pre cise en trance lo ca tion to park ing lots as com pared to Parkopedia. In ad di tion, ParkMe per formed better across park ing at trib utes in clud ing pric ing in for ma tion ac cu racy (91 per cent ver sus 81 per cent) and cor rect park ing lot op er at ing hours (87 percent versus 83 percent). ParkMe has built a com pre hen sive park ing da ta base that in cludes more than 29 mil lion con firmed spaces in over 90,000 ac ces si ble lo ca tions span ning 4,000 cit ies in 64 coun tries. ParkMe only dis plays pub licly ac ces si ble, non-re - stricted lots, in clud ing both free and fee park ing lo ca tions. ParkMe s database does not in clude re stricted-ac cess lots. By ex - clud ing re stricted lots from its world wide dataset, con sum ers us ing ParkMe are not misrouted to lo ca tions that are unavailable to the general public. INRIX also an nounced a new li cens ing agree ment with Parknav to ex pand its on-street park ing ser vices to more than 20 German cities, bringing its total coverage to over 40 cit ies world wide. Parknav uses ma chine learn ing, big data and pre dic tive ana lyt ics to de ter mine what streets will have open park ing in real-time. The so lu - tion works on all road types and cov ers all on-street park ing cat e go ries in clud ing free, me tered and per mit park ing. BMW will be the first automaker to in clude INRIX s ser vice into its ConnectedDrive cars. For more in for ma tion, con tact Mark Burfeind, INRIX North Amer ica, at (206) 240-3970, mark.burfeind@inrix.com, or INRIX Eu rope, Matt Simmons, +44 (0)20 7012 3509, matt.simmons@inrix.com, or website: http://inrix.com. Con tin ued from Page 7 Australia Embraces Transit Oriented Development In her ent in the Scheme is a qua dru ple bot tom line ap proach to sustainability, pro vid ing op por tu ni ties for so cial en - rich ment, eco nomic in no va tion, en vi - ron men tal en hance ment and ap pro pri - ate and trans par ent gov er nance. The Scheme in cor po rates the re quire - ments, pro vi sions and op por tu ni ties to en sure sus tain able growth and de vel op - ment, and in cludes im por tant sustainability out comes such as com - pact growth, mixed land use, good de - sign, pri macy of pub lic spaces, her i tage con ser va tion, cre ative in dus tries, and re duced car use. The Scheme places im - por tance on eq uity, op por tu nity, di ver - sity and good gov er nance, all intrinsic elements of sustainability. The prin ci ples and pro vi sions of the Scheme are in tended to be ap plied in con text to the most cur rent tech nol o gies and best prac tices of the time. Cre ativ ity and in no va tion are en cour aged, to achieve out stand ing de vel op ment out - comes. A crit i cal mass of peo ple, busi nesses and at trac tions are needed to gen er ate a vi brant and suc cess ful in ner city. A larger pop u la tion will be the cat a lyst for change for in ner city Perth. In creased pop u la tion, busi nesses and tour ism must be sup ported by fa cil i ties, ser - vices, amenities and infrastructure. In creased de vel op ment in the in ner city will also help to re lieve the pres sure for out ward sprawl and the as so ci ated en vi - ron men tal, eco nomic and so cial im pacts of pe riph eral sub ur ban de vel op ment. A fun da men tal role of cit ies is to bring peo ple to gether both for so cial in ter ac - tion and for trade. And fi nally, con nec - tiv ity is the prin ci ple of a well-de signed and ser viced ur ban en vi ron ment that con nects peo ple to places and to each other. Con nec tiv ity is prin ci pally based on in - te grat ing peo ple, land uses and trans port modes in an ef fi cient and safe net work. Good ur ban trans port con nec tiv ity fa - cil i tates re duced car de pend ence and brings peo ple out into the ur ban en vi - ron ment to in ter act and en joy the city experience. For more in for ma tion, go to http://www.perthcitylink.wa.gov.au/
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 9 CBO In ves ti gates Ap proaches to Fed eral High way Spending Con cludes More Toll ing, Ben e fit Cost Anal y sis, and Link ing Spend ing to Per for mance Mea sures Should be Con sid ered Ear lier this month the Con gres sio nal Bud - get Of fice (CBO) pub lished the re sults of their in ves ti ga tion into how to make fed - eral high way spend ing more pro duc tive eco nom i cally. The CBO study, Ap - proaches to Mak ing Fed eral High way Spend ing More Pro duc tive, was con - ducted at the re quest of for mer Sen ate Fi - nance Com mit tee Chair man Max Baucus. Ex ter nal re view ers in clude the Coun cil of State Gov ern ments, RAND Corp., and the Brookings In sti tu tion. There is good rea son for the in ves ti ga - tion. The CBO made the point that Fed - eral spend ing on high ways (or, syn on y - mously, roads) to taled $46 bil lion in 2014, roughly a quar ter of to tal pub lic spend ing on high ways. About 95 per cent of that amount was spent for the con struc tion of high ways or for their im prove ment, ex pan - sion, and ma jor re pair, and the re main der was spent for operation and maintenance. In ad di tion, the CBO found two fac tors have com bined to high light the im por tance of mak ing each dol lar spent on fed eral high way pro grams more pro duc tive eco - nom i cally. First, the fed eral gov ern - ment s main source of funds for high - ways gasoline tax revenues dedicated to the High way Trust Fund has been in suf - fi cient to pay for fed eral spend ing on high - ways. Since 2008, law mak ers have trans - ferred about $143 bil lion from other sources to main tain a pos i tive bal ance in the trust fund. Sec ond, ad justed for changes in con struc tion costs, to tal fed eral spend ing on high ways buys less now than at any time since the early 1990s. It was also found that spend ing on high - ways does not cor re spond very well with how the roads are used and val ued. The rea sons are as fol lows: Al most all fed eral spend ing for high - ways oc curs through for mula grants to state and lo cal gov ern ments, and his tor i - cally, less than half of the fund ing has been tied di rectly to the amount of travel on the roads. Al though data from the past 20 years shows that, on av er age, pave ment qual ity is im prov ing, fewer bridges have de fi cien cies, and high way fatalities occur less frequently, those av - erages mask differences between urban and ru ral ar eas and be tween In ter state high ways and other roads, dif fer ences that some times are not re flected in spend ing. For ex am ple, even though high way travel is more con cen trated on In ter states and in ur ban ar eas, and ur ban roads are typ i cally in poorer con di tion than ru ral ones, the fed eral gov ern ment and state gov ern ments typ i cally have spent more per mile of travel for ma jor re pairs on ru ral roads. And, the ex tent to which new high ways boost eco nomic ac tiv ity has gen er ally de clined over time, in creas ing the im por - tance of main tain ing ex ist ing ca pac ity. Yet spend ing has not shifted much ac - cord ingly. The CBO pro vides three ap proaches that should be con sid ered to make high way spend ing more pro duc tive: Have the fed eral gov ern ment, or al low states or pri vate busi nesses to charge driv ers di rectly for their use of roads more of ten, in clud ing charg ing them more for us ing roads when traf fic is more con gested; al lo cate funds to states on the ba sis of the ben e fits and costs of spe cific pro grams and pro jects; and link spend ing more closely to per - formance measures such as ones for traf fic con ges tion or road qual ity by pro vid ing ad di tional funds to states that meet stan dards or pe nal iz ing states that do not. Chad Shir ley and Na than Musick pre - pared the study with guid ance from Jo - seph Kile. Perry Beider, T.J. McGrath, Sa rah Puro, and Rob ert Shackle ton all of CBO pro vided help ful com ments on the re port. Sujit CanagaRetna of the Coun cil of State Gov ern ments, Kevin DeGood of the Cen ter for American Progress, Rocky Moretti of The Road In for ma tion Pro - gram, Mar tin Wachs of the RAND Cor po - ra tion, and Clif ford Winston of the Brookings In sti tu tion did the same. The assistance of external reviewers implies no re spon si bil ity for the fi nal prod uct, which rests solely with CBO. Jeffrey Kling and Rob ert Sun shine re - viewed the re port. John Skeen ed ited it, and Maureen Costantino and Jeanine Rees pre pared it for pub li ca tion. For more in for ma tion, please go to the CBO s website: www.cbo.gov/publication/50150, where an elec tronic ver sion of the CBO s in - ves ti ga tion can be found. The CBO found toll ing such as the Ex press Lanes in the cen ter of I-495 in Vir ginia to be a good strat egy to make high way spend ing more pro duc tive. (Photo: Cour tesy, TransUrban)
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 1 Dis turb ing Trends in High way Safety in the U.S.A the num ber of traf fic fa tal i ties. It is time for the na tion to get se ri ous about the ep i demic of death on our roads. This re quires con - certed ef fort on the fed eral, state and lo cal level, and it is clear, as this Roadmap shows, that there is more work to do on the state level. NHTSA re ports that a sta tis - tical projection of traffic fatalities for the first nine months of 2015 shows that an es - ti mated 26,000 peo ple died in mo tor ve hi - cle traf fic crashes. This rep re sents an in - crease of about 9.3 per cent as com pared to the 23,796 fa tal i ties that were re ported to have oc curred in the first nine months of 2014. Pre lim i nary data re ported by the Fed eral High way Ad min is tra tion (FHWA) shows that ve hi cle miles trav eled (VMT) in the first 9 months of 2015 in - creased by about 80.2 bil lion miles, or about a 3.5-per cent in crease. A fur ther dis turb ing trend is the sig nif i - cant in crease in dis tracted driv ing. The Ad - vo cates for High way & Auto Safety re - ports that in 2013, there were 3,154 peo ple killed and 424,000 in jured in crashes in - volv ing a dis tracted driver. Crashes in which at least one driver was iden ti fied as be ing dis tracted im posed an eco nomic cost of $39.7 bil lion dol lars in 2010. It is clear from an in creas ing body of safety re search, stud ies, and data that the use of elec tronic de vices for tele com mu ni ca tions (such as mo bile phones and text messaging), telematics and en ter tain ment can readily dis tract driv ers from the driv ing task. The Ad vo cates also compiled the following research findings: Ac cord ing to the NHTSA, the per cent - age of driv ers vis i bly ma nip u lat ing hand-held de vices while driv ing has in - creased for the fourth year in a row with a to tal in crease of 183% be tween 2009 and 2012. Re search has shown that be cause of the de gree of cog ni tive dis trac tion these de - vices cause, the be hav ior of driv ers us - ing mo bile phones (whether hand-held or hands-free) is equiv a lent to the be - hav ior of driv ers at the thresh old of the The 10 Best and 10 Worst States for Hav ing Crit i cal Safety Laws in Place State Best States Num ber of Crit i cal Safety Laws in Place Fa tal ity Rate (Fa tal i ties per 100 mil lion VMT) Delaware 12 1.06 Dis trict of Columbia 12 0.57 Illinois 12 0.94 Oregon 12 0.93 Hawaii 11 1.01 Indiana 11 1.00 Maine 11 1.03 Rhode Island 11 0.84 Washington 11 0.76 California 9 0.91 Louisiana 9 1.47 Average 11.0 0.96 Worst States South Dakota 2 1.48 Arizona 5 1.40 Iowa 5 1.00 Montana 5 1.90 Nebraska 5 1.09 Wyoming 5 0.93 Mississippi 6 1.58 Florida 6 1.25 North Dakota 6 1.47 Average 5.0 1.34 Notes How best and worst states were de ter mined: Best States: A state with out a pri mary en force ment seat belt law cov er ing pas sen gers in all seat ing po si tions (front and rear) or that has re - pealed an ex ist ing all-rider mo tor cy cle hel - met law within the pre vi ous ten years is not el i gi ble for a green rat ing, re gard less of the num ber of other high way safety laws it has en acted. States must have 11 to 15 laws in - clud ing both pri mary en force ment seat belt laws, or 9 or more laws in clud ing both pri - mary en force ment seat belt laws and an all-rider hel met law, to achieve a green rat - ing. Worst States: The red rat ing in di cates that the fol low ing states are dan ger ously be hind in the adop - tion of Ad vo cates op ti mal laws. States re - ceive a red rat ing if they have fewer than seven laws, with out both pri mary en force - ment front and rear seat belt laws. le gal limit for al co hol (0.08 blood al co - hol con cen tra tion). Crash risk increases dramatically as much as four times when a driver is us - ing a mo bile phone, with no sig nif i cant safety dif fer ence be tween hand-held and hands-free phones ob served in many stud ies. Ten per cent of fa tal crashes, eigh teen per cent of in jury crashes, and six teen per cent of all mo tor ve hi cle traf fic crashes in 2013 were re ported as dis trac - tion-affected crashes. The Ad vo cates 2016 Roadmap of State High way Safety Laws also con tains a re port card for all 50 states and the Dis trict of Co lum bia, grad ing them on en act ment of 15 ba sic traf fic safety laws. The ba sic safety laws are based on gov - ern ment and pri vate re search, crash data and state ex pe ri ence and are con sid ered to be crit i cal to re duc ing mo tor ve hi cle deaths and in ju ries. The laws are listed be - low. Pri mary En force ment Front Seat Belt Law Pri mary En force ment Rear Seat Belt Law All-Rider Mo tor cy cle Hel met Law Booster Seat Law Learner s Stage: Min i mum Age 16 for Learner s Per mit Learner s Stage: Six-Month Hold ing Pe riod Pro vi sion.a be gin ning teen driver must be su per vised by an adult li censed driver at all times dur ing the learner s stage. Learner s Stage: 30-50 Hours of Su - per vised Driv ing Pro vi sion In ter me di ate Stage: Night time Driv - ing Re stric tion Pro vi sion Cell Phone Re stric tion Age 18 for Un re stricted Li cense Ig ni tion In ter lock De vices (IIDs) Please turn to Page 11
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 11 Con tin ued from Page 1 HOT Lanes on I-405 North of Seattle per for mance of the cor ri dor. The re port con tin ues by stat ing that the Inrix data, de - rived from GPS de vices, is not ac cu rate enough to al lo cate a par tic u lar data point to a spe cific lane. There fore, it must make as sump tions about where higher speed travel is oc cur ring. Those as sump tions ap - pear to be ques tion able. The best de scrip - tion of the per for mance of the I-405 gen - eral pur pose (GP) lanes in 2014 (with HOV op er a tions) ver sus 2015 (with HOT op er a tions) would be to say that out comes in corridor performance are varied, with the change in per for mance de pend ing on the lo ca tion within the cor ri dor be ing ex - amined. WSDOT is im ple ment ing sev - eral im prove ments to ad dress some of the congested locations. The I-405 Ex press Toll Lanes were im - ple mented due to con ges tion on the HOV lanes and the sub stan tial growth es ti mated to take place along the cor ri dor. The toll lanes pro vide the op tion to pay a toll for a more re li able trip, ac cord ing to the WSDOT. The pro ject be gan con struc tion in 2012. WSDOT built a new lane ad ja cent to the carpool lane be tween North east Sixth Street in Belle vue and State Route 522 in Bothell to cre ate a dual ex press toll lane sys tem. The ex ist ing carpool lane be tween Bothell and Lynnwood will serve as a sin - gle ex press toll lane. The 17 mile sys tem opened in Sep tem - ber 2015. The pro ject was funded by state gas tax. Pre-con tract con struc tion cost es ti mates for the pro ject is $155 mil lion. Of that $155 mil lion, $36 mil lion was for above-ground toll sys tem in fra struc ture. This in cluded sign ing, strip ing, cab i nets, ITS, and cam eras. An ad di tional $31 mil - lion cov ered toll equip ment, al go rithm de - vel op ment, cus tomer ser vice back of fice ad just ments, pub lic ed u ca tion/mar ket ing, toll rate set ting and start-up costs. In to tal $67 mil lion is the pre-con tract cost for toll implementation. The high est mea sured peak pe riod traf - fic vol umes on the toll lanes are 1,200 ve - hi cles per hour on the north bound sin gle lane sec tion and 2,600 ve hi cles per hour on A T-ramp exit from the Ex press Toll Lanes on I-405. (Photo: Cour tesy of WSDOT) the south bound dou ble lane section. The net toll rev e nue of $3.7 mil lion from the open ing of the systemto the end of 2015 ex ceeds the pro jec tion of $1 mil lion over the same time pe riod. For more in for ma tion, con tact Jennifer Rash, WSDOT Toll Communications, Tel. (206) 716-1118, Email: RashJen@consultant.wsdot.wa.gov. Website: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/toll ing/405/ Con tin ued from Page 10 Dis turb ing Trends in High way Safety in the Child En dan ger ment - This law ei ther cre ates a sep a rate of fense or en hances an ex ist ing pen alty for an im paired driv ing of fender who en dan gers a mi nor. Open Con tainer Distracted Driving All-Driver Text Messaging Re stric tion - This law pro hib its all driv ers from send - ing, re ceiv ing, or read ing a text mes sage from any handheld or elec tronic data com mu ni ca tion de vice, ex cept in the case of an emer gency. The ta ble shows the best and worst states in terms of im ple ment ing these crit i cal laws. For more in for ma tion, con tact Beth Weaver, tel. (301) 814-4088, Email: beth_weaver@verizon.net. Website: http://saferoads.org/
THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, FEBRUARY 29, 2016, VOL. 30 NO. 1 Page 12 ` This Month s Sur vey Re sults (Sur vey 1) Long Range Plan ning and Con nected Ve hi cles /Au ton o mous Ve hi cles The Ur ban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor con ducted a sur vey among trans por ta tion pro fes sion als in the U.S. to ob tain in for ma tion and opin - ions about "Long Range Plan ning and Con nected Ve hi cles (CV) / Au ton o mous Ve hi cles (AV)". Al to gether 800 trans por ta tion pro fes - sion als were con tacted via email last month. Re plies were re ceived from 42 or ga ni za tions for a re turn rate of 5%. The re sults of the sur vey are pub lished here. Po si tion/em ploy ment of re spon dents to this sur vey. Position/employment Percentage of Respondents planner at an MPO 31% planner at a State DOT 16% planner at local jurisdiction 1% Consultant who conducted transportation planning work for a public agency 39% Other 13% Have you and your col leagues dis cussed how con nected ve hi cles (CV) and/or au ton o mous ve hi cles (AV) might im pact the long term plan ning process? Percentage of Respondents No 26% Yes, but informally 47% Yes, we are investigating what we should do 24% Yes, and we are implementing some measures in our long term planning process 0% Other 3%