Merge Purge?

March 27, 2007

Nobody enjoys a shoving match, especially when the flying elbow is coming from a semi-trailer truck.

Nobody enjoys a shoving match, especially when the flying elbow is coming from a semi-trailer truck.

However, a recent article in the Chicago Tribune claimed dangerous wrestling can be a daily occurrence on a stretch of the new Kingery Expressway. According to the Tribune, there were at least two main merge designs the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) was considering at two strategic locations on I-80/I-94. The first involves merging two lanes (eastbound I-94) into four (eastbound I-80) to form five lanes (eastbound I-80/I-94). Here the outside lane of I-94 turns into the fifth. The second concept also calls for the 2-4-5 configuration, but allows drivers traveling on the inside lane on eastbound I-94 to stay in their lane. IDOT went with the first alternative.

Critics believe the action on the chosen design will cause driver confusion in an area that is composed of 25-30% trucks, arguing that trucks require more room to merge. The configuration would cause other vehicles to slow down or switch lanes and form a bottleneck.

IDOT, however, insists the new merge will increase safety at the two points.

“The right-hand lane on [eastbound I-94] is for trucks and they will be able stay in that right lane without having to merge all the way to U.S. 41 in Indiana,” Mike Claffey, spokesperson for IDOT, told Roads & Bridges. “[The other design] would force all of the traffic in the outside ramp lane to have to merge into the adjacent lane. So there you have 40% of the vehicles trying to squeeze into one lane.”

Critics also have bashed IDOT’s design due to its “suicide” behavior. According to the Tribune, the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO) recommend a merge distance of 2,500 ft. The approved concept carries under 1,970 ft of travel space. IDOT, however, is certain the AASHTO standard is 600-840 ft, not 2,500.

“Our plan is three times over 600 feet,” said Claffey. “What is the alleged motive of IDOT to use a substandard design?”

“It is not a ‘suicide’ lane,” Rick Young, IDOT’s bureau chief of highway programming in the Chicago area, told the Tribune. “While a parallel design is preferred, what we are doing is a perfectly acceptable merge according to our guidelines and the Federal Highway Administration.”

The perfect world would create a parallel design of six lanes, where no lane drops out at the merge point. A bridge with an entrance lane just east of the merge prevents the six-lane setup on the Kingery.

IDOT estimates traffic on the Kingery Expressway could rise to 192,000 daily vehicles by 2020. More traffic would increase the likelihood of accidents on an already accident-prone highway. A recent study conducted by IDOT revealed there were more than 1,700 accidents and 420 injuries during a three-year span.

Despite the dilemma, the $430 million reconstruction project kicked into high gear in March. The project will have a number of safety enhancements, including the addition of a fourth lane on the Kingery Expressway and the elimination of left entrances and exits from the highway.

FY 2007 budget sheds light on transportation

The Bush administration released its fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget proposal on Feb. 6, and while the $2.77 trillion federal spending plan includes an overall cut in non-defense discretionary spending, there are a number of bright spots in the $65 billion the measure recommends for programs administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The budget recommends record funding for a number of federal transportation programs, including a $3.4 billion boost in federal highway investment. While an over $2 billion FY 2007 highway funding increase was called for by the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act—A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), an additional $842 million is recommended in the budget due to Highway Trust Fund Highway Account revenues that exceeded SAFETEA-LU’s estimates.

The transportation budget proposal for FY 2007 fully funds the SAFETEA-LU bill at nearly $50 billion for highways, transit and safety programs, a $3.3 billion increase over 2006. One-fourth of the funding proposal will be used to pay for safety initiatives, including $815 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The Federal-Aid Highway Program obligation level would be set at a record high of $39.09 billion, including $842 million in bonus RABA funding. The FY 2006 highway obligation limit was $35.55 billion by comparison.

Estimated obligations for the Federal Highway Program include, but are not limited to, the following:

National Highway System: $7.8 billion for roads included in the interstate system, other rural principal arteries, urban freeways and connecting urban principal arteries;

Highway Safety Improvement Program: $1.5 billion is estimated to be obligated for the new Highway Infrastructure Safety Program that was established as a core program in FY 2006;

Surface Transportation Program: $7.5 billion for this program, which supports projects on any federal highway, bridge projects on any public road and intracity and intercity bus terminals and facilities;

Interstate Maintenance: $5.1 billion, which is designed to rehabilitate, restore, resurface and reconstruct the interstate system; and Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation: $4.2 billion for this project, which enables states to improve the condition of their bridges through replacement and preventive maintenance.

The administration’s funding request also proposes $100 million for a pilot program to test the viability of alternatives to the gasoline fuel tax for financing highway and managing congestion. Fees, tolls and other approaches will be designed to examine new ways to increase revenue while helping to mitigate traffic congestion on the nation’s roadways.

Reauthorizing leaders

Tom Hill, chief executive of Washington, D.C.-headquartered Oldcastle Materials Inc., and Paul A. Yarossi, president of HNTB Holdings Ltd. in New York City, were recently named co-chairs of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association’s (ARTBA) “SAFETEA-LU Reauthorization Task Force.” The group is charged with developing the association’s legislative agenda for the next reauthorization of the nation’s federal highway and transit investment programs due in 2009.

“Both Tom Hill and Paul Yarossi are distinguished transportation construction industry leaders and bring a wealth of experience to the table,” 2006 ARTBA Chairman Gene McCormick of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas said in announcing their appointments in late January. “Under their leadership, I’m confident the task force will develop reauthorization proposals reflecting the industry’s consensus position on highway and public transit financing, policy and regulatory issues.”

Hill, who served as 2002-2004 ARTBA chairman, currently serves as ARTBA treasurer and is a trustee on the ARTBA Transportation Development Foundation. Yarossi is a 2006 ARTBA vice chairman at-large and is a key member of the association’s board of directors.

The task force will report on its proceedings at the ARTBA 2006 Annual Meeting to be held Sept. 26-29 in San Diego.

In 1999, ARTBA initiated a similar member task force to develop the association’s legislative blueprint for the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

More than 100 ARTBA members participated in that policy process. ARTBA issued a 72-page report in May 2001 with the association’s policy proposals. The report was distributed to all members of Congress, federal agencies and the White House.

Many of ARTBA’s transportation investment and financing, environmental and roadway construction zone safety recommendations were incorporated into SAFETEA-LU, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Aug. 10, 2005.

Bottlenecks prove to be costly

A January 2006 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) report shows the nation is experiencing a freight transportation capacity crisis that increasingly threatens the strength and future productivity of the U.S. economy, according to ARTBA.

The FHWA report, “An Initial Assessment of Freight Bottlenecks on Highways,” found bottlenecks are causing truckers up to 243 million hours of delay annually. At a direct user cost of $32.15 per hour, the delay from the bottlenecks is costing trucking companies nearly $8 billion annually, the report said.

The study analyzed four major types of highway freight bottleneck delays: highway interchanges, signalized intersections, steep grades and lane reductions. Ranked by annual hours of delay for all trucks, the top cities for highway interchange bottlenecks included: Buffalo-Niagara Falls, N.Y., Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago and Los Angeles.

“The results in this report should not be surprising to anyone,” ARTBA President Pete Ruane said, noting that nearly 75% of all freight in America is carried on highways. “The root cause of all traffic congestion is the failure of government at all levels to make the transportation capital investments necessary to keep pace with the mobility demands of a growing population and U.S. economy,” he added.

Overall, bottlenecks represent 40% of all congestion delays, followed by traffic incidents (25%), bad weather (15%), work zones (10%), poor signal timing (5%) and special events (5%), according to FHWA.

Without major capacity investments, FHWA estimates, “by 2020, 29% of urban National Highway System routes will be congested or exceed capacity for much of the day and 42% of National Highway System routes will be congested during peak periods.” By comparison, the agency said, only 10% of the urban National Highway System routes were congested in 1998.

“President Eisenhower embraced a vision for transportation 50 years ago when he created the Interstate Highway System,” Ruane said. “The FHWA report underscores the need for federal policymakers to begin developing new policies to modernize and add significant capacity across all modes of transportation to meet the challenges for the next 50 years. It can be done, but it’s going to take the unprecedented involvement of and leadership of the entire business community and political will by Congress.”

Tolls under fire

A proposed $13 billion project to widen Virginia’s I-81 with new truck lanes has come under fire from various state lawmakers because of the proposed tolls, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Members of the state General Assembly have proposed a nonbinding resolution asking the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to halt plans to widen the highway by four lanes.

State truckers supported lawmakers’ efforts to cease the widening project citing that the tolls would cost freight operators $125 to travel the 325-mile highway, one of the country’s busiest truck routes.

As an alternative, legislators urged VDOT to build targeted improvements at chokepoints aimed at improving the highway’s safety and capacity, such as urban areas and hills.

By 2025, VDOT projects that traffic will come to a near standstill during peak rush hours on most of I-81, a key highway of the region’s economy.

The transportation agency also noted that much of the highway’s pavement needs to be rehabilitated or rebuilt. However, the state’s transportation funds are not adequate to complete the restoration project without utilizing tolls. Currently, VDOT has approximately $130 million in federal and state money on hand for improvements to I-81, including $125 million for truck lanes.

AWARE awarded

The ability to monitor school buses and commercial trucks in real-time through GPS technology has become a rapidly growing need in the marketplace. International Truck and Engine Corp. of Warrenville, Ill., is the first truck and bus manufacturer to offer a comprehensive telematics solution for buses and medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. The company’s efforts with this innovation led Frost & Sullivan in early February to award International the 2006 Industry Innovation and Advancement of the Year Award in the medium-heavy truck original equipment market.

The award recognizes International’s development of the International AWARE Vehicle Intelligence solution, a significant step forward in the introduction of advanced electronic communication systems in the North American commercial truck and school bus market.

The system incorporates GPS technology to track the exact position of vehicles and uses in-vehicle monitors to relay key operating data such as vehicle functions and conditions back to fleet managers, owners and service teams through secure wireless networks.

The GPS-based vehicle positioning system helps fleet managers locate vehicles anywhere within the continental U.S., allowing the remote monitoring of route and stops the vehicle makes. This assists with planning logistics for a more fuel-efficient route.

A “geo-fence” feature alerts fleet managers with an automatic e-mail or text message if a vehicle enters or leaves a designated region. This is especially useful for homeland security implications with sensitive truck cargo such as propane trucks or in the event that a school bus is ever hijacked. In emergency situations on the vehicle, drivers can immediately communicate with the fleet operations control center by pressing a driver alert switch—an onboard alarm button to alert fleet operations to a potential issue with the vehicle or concern with security a driver may be experiencing.

The advantage to customers with the International AWARE Vehicle Intelligence solution is the streamlining of maintenance. The system monitors key vehicle parameters like fuel usage, battery voltage, engine hours and even accessory equipment to provide comprehensive, easily organized reports for maintenance teams to improve fleet efficiency and operating time. Fault-code monitoring also helps fleet managers react to issues as they happen.

“This innovative product signifies the end-user-focused product planning of International and showcases the company’s focus on offering maximum value for money to its customers,” said Sandeep Kar, analyst at Frost & Sullivan. “The company does so by offering commercial vehicle systems that can result in significant improvements in the productivity and performance of vehicles, the key considerations for any commercial vehicle buyer.”

International was presented with the award at a ceremony during the 2006 Excellence in Automotive & Transportation Awards Banquet in La Jolla, Calif., on Feb. 8.

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