TRB FREEWAY OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (AHB20) SUBCOMMITTEE MID-YEAR MEETING REPORT Subcommittee Name

Research

Subcommittee Co-chairs

James Colyar and Chris Poe

Subcommittee Volunteers

Over 20 Committee Members and Friends

Date of Report

January 22, 2015

Brief Description of Subcommittee’s Purpose and/or Objectives The purpose of this Subcommittee is to develop and advance a research and technology transfer agenda to advance the state of the practice and state of the art in highway traffic operations. The objective of this Subcommittee is to partner with other TRB Committees and industry groups to develop, propose, and obtain support from sponsors to initiate priority research on freeway operations related topics. List of Recurring Activities (e.g., annually develop research problem statements) -Develop and maintain a Freeway Operations Research Circular document that formally identifies and prioritizes freeway operations-related research needs. -Develop proposed NCHRP Research Problem Statements. -Develop proposed NCHRP Synthesis Topics. -Partner with other TRB Committees and industry groups to develop, endorse and obtain support for advancing proposals for future research. -Post, update, and remove research problem statements as necessary on the TRB Research Needs Statements website (http://rns.trb.org/) Achievements Realized in Prior Year (2014) -January – Research Subcommittee meeting held at TRB Annual Meeting. -May – AASHTO SCOR selected the “Interaction Effects between Freeway and Surface Street Facilities: System Considerations in a Highway Capacity Context” Research Problem Statement as a part of the 2015 NCHRP Research Program. -June – Released draft Freeway Operations Research Circular for review and comment by the Freeway Operations Committee members and friends. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0SQ9WFkWPyVVFhXN21FVHJ1SEk/edit?pli=1 -June – Research Subcommittee meeting held at Freeway Operations Mid-Year meeting in Irvine, CA. A research prioritization exercise was conducted to understand the most important research needs of the 101 identified in the draft Research Circular. - July-September – Three research problem statements were developed by members of the Committee. Support for the statements was garnered by the AASHTO STSM&O Committee, and the problem statements were submitted for the 2016 NCHRP Call for Research Statements. -July-December – Comments on the Research Circular were incorporated. A technical editor was enlisted to improve the Circular’s readability and consistency as well. Proposed Achievements/Activities for Upcoming Year (2015)

TRB FREEWAY OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (AHB20) SUBCOMMITTEE MID-YEAR MEETING REPORT -January – Research Subcommittee meeting at TRB Annual Meeting. -Feb – Develop and submit NCHRP Synthesis problem statement – Technologies and Strategies Used to Manage and Operate Managed Lanes – Jeff Adler. -Feb-March – Distribute on-line survey on research needs prioritization. -Feb-June – Finalize technical editing and initiate process to publish Research Circular.. -Feb-June – Write draft problem statements on the top 5 research needs discussed at the January Research Subcommittee meeting. -June – Research Subcommittee meeting. -June-Sept – Obtain sponsor support for 5 research problem statements developed. -July – Dec – Develop plan to update Research Circular and draft proposed new chapters (e.g., connected vehicles) -Sept – Submit 5 research problem statements for 2016 NCHRP call for research statements: 1) Effective use of methods and tools for predicting traffic conditions and performance measures for dynamic operations (PM-4, TMC-1, ICM-7) – Chris Poe & Guoyuan Wu 2) Data and information sharing needs for ICM operations and traveler information (ICM-2) – Li Zhang 3) Determining the most appropriate and effective methodology for presenting dynamic information to road users under high speed freeway conditions (TCD-1) - Srikanth Panguluni & David Noyce 4) Examining the future of point sensors on freeways and planning, maintenance, and asset management implications for agencies (DS-5) – Yinhai Wang & Larry Klein 5) Applications of ATM on managed lanes to regulate speeds and manage queues (ML-10) – Jeff Adler & Lin Zhang & Managed Lanes Committee -Dec – Publish Freeway Operations Research Circular through TRB. List of Links to Other Resources Draft Freeway Operations Research Circular https://sites.google.com/site/trbfreewayops/sub_committees/research Freeway Management and Operations Handbook http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freewaymgmt/frwy_ops.htm