TRB AHB25 (Formerly A3A18) Meeting

Marriot Wardman Park Hotel

Washington, DC

Annual Meeting Minutes

http://signalsystems.tamu.edu

(ID=member; password=valid)

January 12, 2004

1. Welcome and Call to Order

• Tom Urbanik called the meeting to order at 1:30 pm.
• Attendants introduced them selves (Attached)

2. Approval of the minutes

• The minutes from July 2003 (Attached) were unanimously approved

3. FHWA Report

· Raj Ghaman, upcoming research

· Human factors: driver response to varying weather conditions (snow, rain, ice…..).

· Evacuation route planning

· Raj Ghaman, ongoing research

· ACS Lite project is active, demonstration planned for January 13, 2004 with Siemens ITS Team.

· Ed Seymour will be leading an effort at the Texas Transportation Institute in conjunction with the state of Texas to test NTCIP standards

· Pam Crenshaw:

· Working with associations and universities to develop comprehensive signal timing plans.

· Peer review of that program is scheduled for January 15-16, 2004.

· General information can be found at:   www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov, more specific information is available at http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/program_areas/progmactiv.htm

· Paul Olson will chair a subcommittee to review the FHWA “Out of the box” research ideas.  The following individuals from AHB25 will be involved:

· Paul Olson

· Ed Folk

· Mark Dunzo

· Pitu Mirchandani…

· Monty Abbass

· Alex Skarbardonis

4. Gary Duncan, Standards

· Econolite will be participating in the NTCIP standards testing with Texas Transportation Institute.

5. Larry Head, Paper Review Process

· 48 papers submitted.

· 35 papers accepted for presentation.

· All authors submitted revised paper for the CD.

· 29 are under consideration for publication.

· Only 8-10 papers will be accepted for publication.

· TRB target is 28% publication rate.

6. Larry Head, Best Paper Award

· Five highest ranked papers are forwarded to the subcommittee

· The 2004 Recepient was: Muller, Theo; Thomas Dijker, and Peter Furth….”Red Clearance Intervals:  Theory and Practice” Paper ID# 04-2481

· Volunteers for the 2005 Best Paper Committee were identified as follows:

.1. Paul Olson, Chair

.2. Monty Abbas

.3. Doug Gettman

.4. Steve Shelby

.5. Scott Beard

.6. Farhad Pooran

.7. Gary Piotrowicz

.8. Larry Concoran

.9. Frank Dolan

.10. V.J. Kovvali

7. Rich Cunard, TRB Reports

· 2500 Papers Submitted

· 370 Papers in operations area

· 2005 Target is 28% of papers will be published (about 700 papers).

· Costs TRB about $1000/paper to publish a paper

· 1486 Papers are on the CD

· 82% of those papers are revised

· About 500 people downloaded the program to their PDA.

· 2006 and 2007 Annual Meeting will be two weeks later to accommodate MLK holiday and hotel bookings

· Jan 22-26, 2006

· Jan 21-27, 2007

· TRB Weekly Newsletter is distributed electronically (12000 subscribers)

· Tri-Annual Self Evaluation is due this year

· Best Paper footer can be added to paper 04-2481 this year.

· New numbering scheme is designed to move away from “highway” organization and now reflects a transportation perspective.

· Anticipated 2004 attendance ~9300

8. Larry Head, Proposed a Call for Paper for the Committee in 2005.

· Rich discouraged that idea.  Traffic Flow Theory committee did that and received 87 papers.

9. Dan Turner, AHB00 Section Leader

· Reminded committee to consider cross cutting issues related to the critical transportation problems identified by TRB (Attached)

10. Tom Urbanik, Update on NCHRP 3-66; “Traffic Signal State Transition Logic Using Enhanced Sensor Information”

· Phase 1 report is posted at (Attached).

11. Jim Powell, Problem Statement Summary (Attached)

· Problem Statements are due to NCHRP in September

· Proposals for Synthesis Statements are due February 1, 2004

· “Traffic Signal Phase Sequencing for Safety and Efficiency” was submitted in September 03…. Currently under review.

· “Travel Time and Queue Measurement on Signalized Arterials” was submitted in September 02 and will be issued around February/March 2004 as NCHRP Project 3-79 (Attached).

· Reviewed previous problem statements (Attached).

· Rick Denney volunteered to draft a problem statement on implementing weather related timing plans. 

· Peter Martin volunteered to draft a problem statement on short term traffic flow predictions.

· Doug Gettman volunteered to draft problem statement on long term performance measurements of traffic trends.

· Paul Olson and Kevin Balke will draft a synthesis statement on pedestrian/bicycle timing issues.  This will be due on February 1, 2004.  This will include count down ped indications. 

· Rick Denney and Pitu will draft Problem Statement on clearance times and then discuss at the mid year meeting.

· City of Milwaukee is evaluating the possibility of extending the red clearance interval (dynamically) as a safety improvement. 

· Votes for new topics

.1. Detection Data quality an accuracy (10 votes)

.2. Best Practices for Traffic Signal timing (27 votes)

.3. Effectiveness and Optimization of Existing Controller Adaptive Features (15 votes)

.4. Effective pattern switch times(13 votes)

.5. Effective Configuration of Traffic Responsive Systems (8 votes)

.6. Evaluate Effectiveness of Signal Systems (e.g., icons, ACTRA) in Microsimulation /w NTCIP Interface (10 votes)

.7. Performance of Adaptive Signal Systems on a Level Playing Field(32 votes)

.8. Investigation of leading optimization packages (i.e. SYNCHRO) ability to find the best timing plan  (24 votes).

.9. Validation of MOEs Generated by Traffic Models vs. Field Data (10 votes)

.10. State-of-the-practice and Needs Assessment on Rail-Signal Operations (1 votes)

.11. Recent Trends in Traffic Signals (0 votes)

.12. Method for Optimizing Coordinate Actuated Signal Settings (6 votes)

.13. Low Cost Traffic Signal System for Small Towns (8 votes)

.14. Analysis of Clearance Period at Signalized Intersections and the Potential for Running Red Lights (20 votes)

12. Bruce Zvaniga, City of Toronto

· Reviewed results of Les Kelman’s Survey (Attached)

· July 25-27, 2004 Mid Year Meeting at Novotel Hotel, North York Topics(Attached)

.1. The following topics were proposed for the committee to organize technical activities around:

· Short vs. Long Cycle Lengths (Rick Denney)

· Closely spacing operational issues

· How far is too far to coordinate

· Do you want to change how far you coordinate during day vs. night.

· Cross jurisdictional boundaries

· Good practices for obtaining good design volumes

· How does actuated equipment deal with

· ped time

· early return to green

· offset referencing

· transition

· Volunteers to help coordinate mid year meeting Workshop 1. 

· Rick Denney

· Dennis Eyler

· Monty Abbas

· Ahmed Abdel-Rahim

· Chris Philip/Bruce Zvaniga

· Dave Mallard

· Pat Timbrook

.2. Sessions on the Management of Urban Arterials will be organized by the Toronto delegation.

· The following Technical Tours are currently under investigation:

· Monday and Tuesday

· City of Toronto Centre (highly desirable)

· MTO Centre

· Transit Centre

· University Testbed

· HWY 407

· Rhodes Adaptive Control in Oakville (highly desirable)

· Social Elements

· Harbour Cruise

· Other Stuff

· Beaches Jazz Festival July 16-25

· Blue Jays vs. Yankees (July 26 or 27)

13. Possible 2005 Mid Year Meeting Locations

· Las Vegas in conjunction with Highway Capacity (possible coordination with Mohammed Kaseko http://www.ce.unlv.edu/fac/Kaseko.htm )

· Houston

· Los Angeles/Irvine Beckman Center

· San Francisco

14. Lessons Learned

· B. Park:  Be careful with longer cycle lengths

· Larry Concoran: Starting to see some unauthorized  preemptions

15. Adjourned

· The meeting was adjourned at 5:45pm