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Project Information
Installation of Arterial Intelligent Transportation Systems on US 90A from IH 610 (South Loop) to Ft. Bend Co line in Harris Co. Texas Department of Transportation 1/12/2015 1:04:23 PMProject Narrative
This project will provide necessary expanded coverage of existing incident management, congestion management, and traveler information systems infrastructure for the TxDOT Houston District (TranStar) region. This improvement project will allow TranStar to move closer to achieving the goal of DISTRICT-WIDE integrated coverage. US 90A between IH 610 (South Loop) and Sam Houston Toll way/BW 8 (South Belt) is an alternate route for US 59 Southwest Freeway. It is a route to NGR Stadium and the Texas Medical Center which are both large traffic generators. This project will improve real-time incident detection, responsiveness and notification; and also improve real-time traffic monitoring and reporting capabilities of recurring congestion on an alternative route to US 59 (Southwest Freeway). This project will also provide redundancy between IH 610 (South Loop) and Sam Houston Toll way/BW 8 (South Belt). The project will involve instrumentation of a principal arterial, US 90A (south Main), from I-610 to the Ft. Bend County Line in Harris County. Specifically, this project will include the installation of 7 miles of conduit bank and 144-strand fiber trunkline; including 10 closed-circuit cameras, 2 dynamic message signs, 4 radar-based vehicle sensing devices, and 4 travel time readers. Additionally, this ITS segment improvement provides for fiber-optic communication redundancy. None. However, since this is an ITS infrastructure expansion versus conventional roadway capacity expansion, the inherent benefit is to gain more capacity utilization of the existing facility without any environmental impacts or requiring additional right-of-way/heavy construction.Project Narrative
Yes Categorical Exclusion (CE) (c)(21) Deployment of electronics, photonics, communications, or information processing No 02/01/2018 No Yes No Utility Adjustments will be needed. No No Public Involvement activities are needed. The project design can be at 30% complete within 30 days after notice to proceed.Map/Location
Project Budget
Project Budget TIP Application 300741.xlsx
Yes NoScreening Questions
Yes ITS technology deployment is typically at least 7-10 years before retrofit or total replacement is required.Evalutation Questions - ITS Projects
Benefit /Cost Methodology
H-GAC to conduct analysis based on the GIS/map project location and project scope information provided above.
Congestion Safety
Incident/Event Management
Yes; This ITS project improvement segment will be a fully-integrated extension of TxDOT’s current ITS system operated out of the region’s multi-agency housed Traffic & Emergency Management Center (Houston TranStar). ; Yes; This ITS project improvement segment is both on the National Highway System and a component on H-GAC’s CMP Network. ; Yes; This ITS project improvement segment will include the installation of 2 dynamic message signs and 4 travel time (Bluetooth) readers that provide updated traveler information on TranStar’s speed map and email alert free subscription service. ; No; However, through the extension of ITS instrumentation (i.e., CCTVs, RSVDs, and travel time readers) emergency vehicles can be routed more efficiently during their incident arrival and departure tripmaking. ; No; However, through the extension of ITS instrumentation (i.e., CCTVs, RSVDs, and travel time readers) mobility management for the OVERALL travel corridor will be improved.; Yes; This project will provide the communication and monitoring infrastructure foundation for the future implementation of integrated corridor management applications such as ramp metering, variable speeds, variable pricing, etc. However, immediate benefits of this project will provide for traffic condition monitoring that will enhance travel time reporting and tripmaking reliability. ;Coordination
System Migration/Expandability
Yes; The system will expand/extend the regional communications network from I-610 Loop to the Ft. Bend County Line for a distance of 7 miles along US 90A (South Main) in Harris County.; Yes; This ITS project improvement will be fully-integrated into the region’s Traffic and Emergency Operations Center (Houston TranStar). This will allow all real-time traffic and incident information to be viewed and shared among the principal transportation and emergency management agencies in Harris County (TxDOT, Harris County, City of Houston, and METRO).;Integration and Information Sharing
AND, System ties into another agency’s systems to allow for the sharing of data; All information and data captured by this ITS improvement project will be transmitted to the region’s Traffic and Emergency Management (Houston TranStar). Since all information and data will be coming into TranStar, the capability for sharing among the primary TranStar partners is inherent. This project will beneficial to the City of Houston, Harris County Toll Authority and Ft. Bend Toll road. ; Yes; The system will provide data to Houston TranStar website, TxDOT website, Dynamic Message Signs via TranStar operators, local media outlets, and free individual subscription service for customized email alerts.; Yes; The system will collect segment speed and travel time data that can be used for mobility performance measures. Additionally, the system will assist in the real-time monitoring of incidents providing the necessary time increments to define total clearance timelines by various types of incidents to report incident clearance performance.;Asset Mgmt/Efficient Operations
Continuity Operations
Yes; This project will provide a redundant path to IH 610 South Loop, Sam Houston Toll way/BW 8 South and the Ft. Bend Toll road. This will enhance continuity of operations in case of fiber cut on one of those communication systems. This project will beneficial to the City of Houston, Harris County Toll Authority and Ft. Bend Toll road. ; Yes; This project will provide a redundant path to IH 610 South Loop, Sam Houston Toll way/BW 8 South and the Ft. Bend Toll road. This will enhance continuity of operations in case of fiber cut on one of those communication systems. This project will also be beneficial to the City of Houston, Harris County Toll Authority and Ft. Bend Toll road. ; Yes; This project will provide a redundant path to IH 610 South Loop, Sam Houston Toll way/BW 8 South and the Ft. Bend Toll road. This will enhance continuity of operations in case of fiber cut on one of those communication systems. This will increase the system reliability. This project will also be beneficial to the City of Houston, Harris County Toll Authority and Ft. Bend Toll road. ;