TMC Traffic Management Decision Support Functional Area

Description

'TMC Traffic Management Decision Support' recommends courses of action to the traffic operator based on current and forecast road and traffic conditions. Traffic incidents, special events, maintenance activities and other events or conditions that impact capacity or demand are monitored. Historical data and models are used to compare the impact of potential courses of action and make recommendations to the operator. Decisions are supported through presentation of filtered and fused network–wide road and traffic conditions that identify network imbalances and recommended courses of action. The recommended actions may include predefined incident response plans, signal timing plan changes, DMS/HAR messages, truck restrictions, lane control strategies, metering strategies, and adjustment of variable speed limits. Multimodal strategies may also be recommended that include suggested transit strategies and suggested route and mode choices for travelers. Once a course of action is selected, traffic operations personnel implement these actions within the Traffic Management Center and coordinate the response with other centers in the region.

Included In

PPA Office
City of Pittsburgh Traffic Management Center (CityTMC)
Western Region Traffic Management Center (PennDOT)

Functional Requirements

IDRequirement
1The center shall provide center personnel with an integrated regional view of current and forecast road and traffic conditions including traffic incidents, special events, maintenance activities and other events or conditions that impact capacity or demand.
2The center shall identify network imbalances and potential courses of action.
3The center shall compare the impact of potential courses of action and make recommendations to the operator.
4The recommended actions shall include predefined incident response plans, signal timing plan changes, DMS/HAR messages, lane control strategies and freeway control strategies including ramp metering, interchange metering, and mainline metering.
5The recommended actions shall include multimodal strategies that include suggested transit strategies and suggested route and mode choices for travelers.
6The center shall provide an interface to center personnel to input control parameters for the decision support process and receive recommended actions and supporting information presentation.
7The center shall provide transportation operational strategies to other centers.