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From the Director
Making the Case for Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration and Coordination The Practice of Regional Transportation Operations Collaboration and Coordination A Self-Assessment—Where Are You in Regional Collaboration and Coordination? Applications
of Regional Operations Collaboration and Coordination Planning for Transportation
Operations: |
San Antonio’s Advanced Warning to Avoid Railroad Delays (AWARD) ProjectviiiThe AWARD project was developed as part of San Antonio’s MMDI to handle intermodal traffic problems by providing advance information on train crossings to operators at the Texas DOT TransGuide Control Center, emergency service providers, and travelers. The system’s purpose was to eliminate traffic backup on freeway ramps and interruptions of freeway operations by passing trains at at-grade highway-rail intersections.AWARD places acoustic and Doppler radar sensors on poles in city or State rights-of-way along a railroad track to detect the presence, speed, and length of trains prior to their arrival at grade crossings close to freeway exits. The sensors send data to the TransGuide Control Center, where computers calculate train passing time and duration. Using variable message signs, traveler information kiosks, web sites, and in-vehicle navigational units, TransGuide operators alert motorists to potential delays and alternative routes. The system was considered a successful proof-of-concept. In this case, however, train delays were found insufficient to warrant system implementation. As traffic increases in the San Antonio area, the system may one day be needed, and the components will already be in place.
viii “Advanced Warning for Railroad Delays in San Antonio,” Lessons Learned from the Metropolitan Model Deployment Initiative—Providing Enhanced Information to the Public, FHWA-OP-01-038, U.S. Department of Transportation, March 2001. |
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