RESPONSIVE MULTIMODAL TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 and the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1991 pose new challenges to transportation engineers and planners to think creatively about how advanced technologies for transportation systems can be applied in various settings. Much of the work to date has been to apply these technologies to highway vehicles and infrastructure through ATMS, ATIS, and CVO. Recognizing the need to think about multimodal applications for advanced technology, FHWA and FTA have undertaken a project to address the multimodal transportation management issue. The broad goal of the project is to incorporate potential IVHS technologies into multimodal transportation management strategies. Scenarios will address typical conditions, special events, incidents, and air quality alerts. The project objectives are : 1) identify candidate real or semi-real time multi-modal transportation management scenarios; 2) determine their usefulness and feasibility; 3) develop additional innovative multimodal concepts that can be linked to IVHS technologies; 4) identify potential utility and cost of each scenario; and, 5) provide recommendations for additional research, development, and operational test activities. The idea of linking multi-modal systems management strategies to advanced IVHS technologies holds great promise as one of the elements referred to in ISTEA and CAAA.