Transportation 2035 - State of Rhode Island: Division of Planning

December 2012Construction andMaintenanceFHWALocal Governmentrequiring use of travel surface.Safe Work Zone requirements.Best practices.Federal requirements for CMP.Local area knowledge. Land useand zoning controls. Subdivisionregulations.times, and location of lane androad closures.Contribute knowledge or casestudies of other state/MPOefforts in CM.Present results of local accessmanagement or corridorstudies undertaken.performance and a betterinformed motoring public.Positive return on federalinvestments.Feedback on plans andprojects. Forum to reach stateofficials.CMTF STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONThe Task Force generally meets on a quarterly basis and discusses a variety of issues related to recurring and nonrecurringcongestion, as well as monitoring and reporting out the status of Rhode Island’s management oftransportation congestion. The MPO and the RIDOT/TMC co-chair this Task Force. Its activities are part of theTMC budget.As part of the process, the Congestion Management Task Force identifies Rhode Island's congested roadways andmay recommend the undertaking of detailed corridor plans to address congestion causes and prioritize solutionswithin those corridors. Using the strategies of congestion mitigation is particularly important for Rhode Island'sroadways because most of the corridors are physically and politically constrained from major capacity expansions(such as adding travel lanes). Accordingly, congestion mitigation strategies must focus on expanding travel choicesin the corridor to improve operation of the transportation system and encourage the use of other transportationmodes without promoting the use of single-occupant vehicles. The process examines and evaluates existing trafficuse, present and projected land use and socioeconomic information, accident data, and trends within the studyarea to identify the location, causes, and severity of congestion.The effectiveness of the CMTF relies on the system of data collection, data monitoring and travel forecasting toidentify the existing locations of congestion in the region and to forecast the locations where congestion is likely toexist in the future. The CMTF also identifies and helps determine the severity of and causes of the congestion.CMTF STRATEGIES AND RECOMMENDATIONSThis group makes recommendations to be implemented immediately through the TMC, short term through RIPTAor active design of projects, or long term through TIP projects and land use regulations. The universe of potentialrecommendations or strategies is presented in the next section. The graphic below describes the inputs andoutputs of this process anddemonstrates that the solutions get fedback into the process for performanceand evaluation.The following table presents congestionmitigation strategies and technologiesthat will be considered, deployed, orcontinued based on the characteristicsof the subject corridor.Transportation 2035 (2012 Update)State Guide Plan Element 611Rhode Island Statewide Planning ProgramA-12