THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR

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1 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR 2009 Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Re served. VOL 23, NO 9 NO VEM BER 9, 2009 Kan sas Tests the Use of Eco nomic Im pact in Rat ing High way Pro jects Poten tial for Pro jects to Gen er ate Eco nomic Growth and Devel op ment Taken into Con sid er ation The Kan sas Depart ment of Trans por ta tion (KDOT) has started rat ing poten tial high - way pro jects on the basis of their poten tial for gen er at ing eco nomic growth and devel op ment as well as an anal y sis of tra di - tional fac tors such as traf fic vol ume, pave - ment con di tions and acci dent data. The pilot pro cess eval u ates pro jects using three fac tors: engi neer ing, local input and eco nomic impact anal y sis. Pro - ject selec tion over the past two decades has been based pri mar ily on engi neer ing fac - tors such as road way con di tion and traf fic data, accord ing to the KDOT. Trans por ta tion plays such a big role in the econ omy, Kyle Schneweis, KDOT s director of governmental affairs, stressed. For this rea son, it is impor tant for us to con sider the eco nomic impact of high way pro jects on local communities. The pilot pro cess is being under taken at the same time as the Kan sas Leg is la ture begins to con sider a new long-range trans - por ta tion plan. The state s 10-year trans - por ta tion plan expired last year. Schneweis told UTM that the depart ment has been hold ing meet ings with stake - holder groups, aca dem ics, busi ness groups, and pro fes sion als to gather infor - ma tion and explore the direc tion the next long-range trans por ta tion plan should take. These dis cus sions pointed to the impor tance of eco nomic con sid er ations in any eval u a tion of trans por ta tion needs, Schneweis said. Then the gov er nor s task force devel oped the pro cess for eval u at ing and rank ing pro jects includ ing the potential for economic growth and development. The depart ment can guess the impact of a spe cific high way pro ject, but if a Mod u lar Bikestation Installed in Covina, California Cost-Effective Solution Promotes Sustainable Transportation The United States first mod u lar bikestation is being installed at the Covina Metrolink sta tion in Covina, CA, a city about 22 miles east of down town Los Angeles. The Bikestation is expected to be oper a tional by late fall Bikestation Covina will fea ture mon i - tored elec tronic secu rity. The new bike mod ules over come a top con cern peo ple have that keep them from using their bikes theft, said Andrea White-Kjoss, Mobis/Bikestation pres i dent and CEO. com mu nity knows that it would attract busi ness to a cer tain indus trial park and lead to job cre ation, we need to find that Please turn to Page 10 Mobis is a con sult ing and man age ment firm that plans, devel ops and oper ates multimodal trans por ta tion sys tems through its Bikestation, Citywheels and Citybikeshare brands. The new Bikestation Covina Secure Bike Mod ule is 10 x 25 square feet in a high tech, green design. It offers 36 secure park ing spaces that can accom mo - date up to 80 cyclists through dig i tal access. The city of Covina has con tracted Please turn to Page 10 Inside Sur veys....page 13 Requests for Pro pos als....page 22 Confer ences...page 23 An illustration of a modular bikestation. (Photo: Courtesy of Mobis/Bikestation)

2 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23, NO. 9 Page 2 NYC Aims to Make Park ing Eas ier, More Ef fi cient and More User-Friendly New Tech nol ogy to Al low New York ers to View a Map of Avail able Park ing Spaces, Re ceive Alerts The mayor of New York City, Mi chael Bloomberg, re cently an nounced a com pre - hen sive new strat egy to make park ing in the city eas ier, more ef fi cient, and more user-friendly by im ple ment ing new tech - nol o gies and new ini tia tives. Ac cord ing to the Mayor s Of fice, the city will be gin test - ing and study ing new tech nol ogy that would al low New York ers to view a map of avail able park ing spaces, re ceive alerts when their me ter is about to ex pire and pay park ing me ters all on their mo bile de vice. The city will also ex plore of fer ing sur - charge-free au to matic elec tronic money trans fers as an other way to pay park ing tick ets so that New York ers can pay elec - tron i cally while avoid ing fees im posed by credit card com pa nies. The park ing strat egy also in cludes plans for ex pand ing the on go ing pi lot pro - gram to re duce al ter nate-side-of-the-street reg u la tions, study ing late pen alty and in - ter est am nesty pro grams for over due park - ing tick ets and pro vid ing new sen si tiv ity train ing for all traffic enforcement agents. Asked for de tails about the park ing plan, Mayor s Of fice spokes man Marc LaVorgna told UTM that the park ing plan is just in its ear li est stages. The Mayor s Of fice will be work ing with the NYC De - part ment of Trans por ta tion to study the pro vi sions and put them into place, he said. Some of the re search has al ready be gun, for ex am ple, on al ter nate-side-of-thestreet park ing re stric tions. Last year, the city be gan a pi lot pro gram in Park Slope, Brook lyn to re duce al ter nate-side park ing re stric tions from twice a week to once a week and re duce the du ra tion of the re stric - tion from three hours to ninety min utes in some lo ca tions. Sim i lar changes were made in other parts of Brook lyn, in clud ing Carroll Gar dens and Red Hook. The pi lot pro gram is now be ing ex panded to more sec tions of Brook lyn and the Riverdale sec tion of the Bronx. The im pact of the re - duc tion in park ing reg u la tions on street clean li ness will be mon i tored and stud ied by the De part ment of San i ta tion. If street clean li ness re mains at the cur rent high lev - els, the re duc tions to park ing restrictions will be expanded to more locations across the city. Re search will also be started on ways to deal with over due park ing fines. New York city is owed ap prox i mately $700 mil lion in over due park ing fines, dat ing as far back as Tick ets in ar rears are sub ject to late fees and in ter est charges, which quickly add up. Af ter the first 101 days, three late fees, to tal ing $60, are added to the orig i nal park ing fine. Shortly there af - ter, in ter est be gins to ac crue at a rate of nine per cent per year. Am nesty pro grams that re duce or waive late pen al ties and in - ter est on past due park ing tick ets have proven suc cess ful in other cit ies, and the city will re view these pro grams to de ter - mine if an am nesty pro gram would be ef - fec tive in New York City to incentivize payment. Cur rently, the only method avail able to pay a park ing ticket elec tron i cally is via credit card, which sub jects us ers to a $2 fee, im posed to re coup trans ac tion costs charged by credit cards com pa nies. The city will ex plore the pos si bil ity of of fer ing charge-free elec tronic money trans fers di - rectly from a bank ac count to pay parking tickets. For more in for ma tion, visit html or con tact Marc LaVorgna at tel. (212) Park ing pay sta tions (an ex am ple in New York City shown here) can play an im por tant role in park ing man age ment. (Photo: Cour tesy of New York City DOT) The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, ISSN , is pub lished monthly, except dur ing Jan u ary and August (10 issues per year), by Law - ley Pub li ca tions, 6813 Jer e miah Ct., Fairfax Sta - tion, VA 22039, Tel: (703) , Fax: (703) , edi tors@lawleypub lications.com. Sub scrip tions $295 per year. Peri - od i cals post age paid at Fairfax, VA. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor, P.O. Box 12300, Burke, VA The Urban Trans por ta tion Mon i tor pub lishes cur rent news on all modes and aspects related to urban trans por ta tion. Law ley Pub li ca tions is an inde pend ent and pri vately owned orga ni za tion. Copy right 2009, Law ley Pub li ca tions. All Rights Reserved. Repro duc tion, includ ing pho - to copy ing and fac sim ile or elec tronic trans mis - sion, in whole or in part with out writ ten per mis sion from the Edi tor is expressly pro hib ited. Law ley Pub li ca tions assumes no respon si bil ity or lia bil ity of any kind for the accu racy or com - plete ness of the infor ma tion herein, or for addi - tional or changed infor ma tion sub se quent to the date the mate rial was received and/or pub lished. Publisher/Editor: Dan iel B. Rathbone, Ph.D., P.E. Man ag ing Edi tor: Clarissa Reeves, M.Ed. Assis tant Edi tor/researcher: J. Holden

3 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 3 Per sonal Rapid Tran sit Sys tem to Open at Heathrow in Spring 2010 ULTra Provides Quick, Convenient Public Transport The world s first com mer cial per sonal rapid tran sit (PRT) sys tem an in no va - tive method of on-de mand driverless trans - port is sched uled to be gin op er a tion at Heathrow Air port in spring The UL - Tra (Ul tra Light Tran sit) PRT sys tem will go into rev e nue ser vice con nect ing Heathrow s Ter mi nal 5 with air port park - ing lots, ac cord ing to the Brit ish Air port Au thor ity (BAA). BAA owns and op er - ates seven Brit ish air ports in clud ing Heathrow. Ac cord ing to Da vid Holdcroft, BAA s PRT Man ager, This in no va tive sys tem forms part of BAA s plan to trans form Heathrow, im prove the pas sen ger ex pe ri - ence and reduce the environmental impact of our op er a tion through the de vel op ment of cut ting edge, green trans port so lu tions. In a news re lease, Holdcroft said UL Tra of fers a com pletely new form of pub lic trans port - one that will de liver a fast, ef fi - cient ser vice to pas sen gers and bring con - sid er able en vi ron men tal ben e fits, sav ing more than half of the fuel used by ex ist ing forms of pub lic or pri vate trans port. Of fi - cials ex pect a half a million passengers a year to use PRT at Heathrow. The UL Tra sys tem con sists of small, bat tery-pow ered elec tric ve hi cles that travel on an el e vated guideway net work. Each ve hi cle has four seats and can ac com - mo date five adults and lug gage. Cre ated by UK-based Ad vanced Trans port Sys - tems (ATS), UL Tra can pro vide circulator tran sit for of fice parks, air ports, uni ver si - ties, and other ac tiv ity cen ters. The sys tem at Heathrow will open with 3.7 miles of track, three sta tions, and 21 pod ve hi - cles, says ATS Dep uty Chair man Mar tin Lowson. If suc cess ful, how ever, the Brit - ish Air port Au thor ity (BAA) plans to ex - pand the sys tem into other terminals and nearby hotels. Asked about the cap i tal cost, Lowson told UTM that in clud ing the de vel op - ment cost for the first com mer cial ap pli ca - tion ATS has spent ap prox i mately 35 mil lion ($58 mil lion) de vel op ing UL Tra. Lowson came up with the UL Tra con cept while a pro fes sor at the Uni ver sity of Bris - tol. Pre vi ously, he worked as a rocket sci - en tist at the U.S. Na tional Aero nau tics and Space Ad min is tra tion. Lowson cred its the UL Tra per sonal rapid tran sit ve hi cles at Heathrow Air port. (Photo: Cour tesy of Ad vanced Trans port Sys tems Ltd., practical realization of the ULTra concept to the whole ATS team. UL Tra ve hi cles travel at 25 miles per hour. Be cause the sys tem pro vides op por - tunities for battery recharge after every trip, the size of the re quired bat tery pack is less than 10 per cent of empty weight. Ac cord - ing to ATS, a pod will use 70 per cent less en ergy than a car mak ing the same jour ney and emit no CO2. Asked to es ti mate pro jected peak-hour de mand, Lowson said they ex pect ap prox i - mately 90 ve hi cle jour neys per hour at Heathrow. The ca pac ity of the sys tem is about 360 pas sen gers per hour per sin gle track, he added. Heathrow will have two UL Tra sta tions at busi ness car park ing, each with two berths, and one UL Tra sta tion at Ter mi nal 5 with four berths, Lowson said. A pas sen ger at a board ing sta tion will push a but ton and a pod will move au to mat i cally into place. In fact, BAA says that one rea son for in tro - duc ing PRT is to re move the need for pas - sen gers to wait for shut tle buses. Pas sen - gers will board a ve hi cle, se lect their des ti - na tion from touch-screen choices, and be trans ported to their des ti na tion on a non-stop trip. The pods are guided elec tron i cally by sen sors in the ve hi cle. ATS-de vel oped software manages ULTra s op er at ing sys - tem us ing syn chro nous con trol, sim i lar to that used in air traf fic con trol. This en - sures that ve hi cles are only launched when there is a free route to their des ti na - tion. Cen tral con trol man ages empty ve - hi cles, send ing them where they are re - quired, re duc ing wait ing times and elim i - nat ing un nec es sary jour neys. Ac cord ing to ATS, there have been no fail ures of the system in the past four years of testing. For pas sen gers, UL Tra of fers pub lic trans port that ap prox i mates the pri vacy and con ve nience of a car. For BAA, it of - fers re li able, safe pub lic trans port with all sta tions su per vised by CCTV. Pas sen gers can con tact the con trol ler di rectly from a ve hi cle. Staff will have a cus tomer ser - vice role be cause the UL Tra ve hi cles re - quire no driv ers. Ac cord ing to ATS, ex - ist ing large-scale, fully au to matic sys tems have never had a fa tal ity due to the au to - matic con trol sys tem; the driver is the principal cause of a transport accident. Heathrow s UL Tra sys tem be gan op - Please turn to Page 12

4 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL 23 NO. 9 Page 4 Intelligence Mn/DOT Opens HOT Lanes on I-35 W Carpool Lanes to Re duce Con ges tion St. Paul, Min ne sota The Min ne sota De part ment of Trans por - ta tion (Mn/DOT) con verted an ex ist ing HOV lane to an HOT lane on I-35W. The new I-35W MnPASS Ex press Lanes opened Sep tem ber 30. Solo mo tor ists with a valid MnPASS ac count can choose to pay a toll to ac cess the ex press lanes. Carpools with two or more oc cu - pants, mo tor cy cles, and tran sit buses can still use the ex press lanes free of charge dur ing toll ing hours (peak pe ri ods). The ex press lanes use dy namic toll ing in which the prices ad just ev ery three min utes dur ing peak pe ri ods, Mn/DOT Pro ject Man ager Nick Thomp son said. Thompson told UTM that the toll ranges from $0.25 to $8.00, av er ag ing about $1.00 per trip. Peak pe ri ods are 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Elec tronic signs dis play the current toll. The new I-35W MnPASS Ex press Lanes are 16 miles long and in clude two seg ments: from High way 13 in Burnsville to I-494 and from I-494 to down town Min ne ap o lis. On the seg ment from I-494 to down town, tran sit ve hi cles, carpools and MnPASS cus tom ers will be able to use a con verted shoul der lane north of 42nd Street dur ing cer tain times when traf fic is con gested. Elec tronic signs will alert driv ers when the shoul der is open or closed. Sim i lar lanes are in op er a tion on I-394 and have proven pop u lar with com mu - ters. A MnPASS Ex press Lane seg ment be tween I-494 and 42nd Street will open in fall The MnPASS Ex press Lanes are sep - a rated from reg u lar lanes by ei ther dou - ble white lines or a sin gle yel low line. Over head signs alert mo tor ists to en try and exit points which are sep a rated from the reg u lar lanes by dashed white lines. Driv ers may only en ter and exit MnPASS lanes at des ig nated points. An over head an tenna reads the car s MnPASS tran - sponder and au to mat i cally de ducts the posted toll from the prepaid MnPASS Thomp son at account. Nick.Thompson@dot.state.mn.us. Asked how po lice will be able to dis tin - guish be tween scofflaws and sin gle driv ers UK to Al low Cy clists to Travel who have paid a toll, Thomp son said that in Op po site Di rec tion of State Pa trol staff will have ve hi cles Ve hi cles on One-Way Streets; equipped with Raytheon tech nol ogy that al lows the troop ers to read tran spond ers in Mea sure In tended to real time to see if the driver has paid a toll. En cour age Greener Travel He added that toll rev e nue will pay for Lon don, Eng land some of the enforcement. The United King dom s De part ment for Dur ing the first af ter noon rush hour of Trans port an nounced Sep tem ber 17 that the new I-35W MnPass Ex press Lanes, cy clists will be al lowed to ride in both di - 3,083 ve hi cle trips were re corded be tween rec tions on a num ber of one-way streets 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Of these, 248 trips were as part of a se ries of mea sures to en cour - made by MnPASS ac count hold ers. Car age greener travel. pools, buses and mo tor cy cles also used the The pi lot pro ject in the Lon don Bor - lane. Price ranged from $0.25 to a max i - ough of Kensington and Chelsea will al - mum of $1.50. low cy clists to travel both ways on spe - The cre ation of the I-35W MnPASS cific one-way roads in the bor ough. A Ex press lanes is part of a larger trans por ta - small sign say ing ex cept cy clists will tion pro ject, Thomp son said. He said the be at tached to poles on one-way streets capital cost for implementing the tolling that al ready carry signs in di cat ing no com po nent of the pro ject was $4.3 mil lion. entry. He said six miles of new lanes were con - The de part ment also an nounced pro - structed this year and a $315-mil lion re - pos als to sig nif i cantly re duce red tape for con struc tion of four miles of in ter change city coun cils that want per mis sion to use with a toll lane will be fin ished next year. cer tain traf fic signs. The new mea sures Ac cord ing to Thomp son, the pro jected op - will al low coun cils to put in place cer tain er a tional cost of the I-35 W Ex press Lanes signs - in clud ing those for car club park - is $800,000 per year. ing spaces, elec tric car charg ing points Thomp son added that a study is un der - and cy clists - with out the need for the way for an ex press lane in an other cor ri - gov ern ment to ap prove the use of each dor, which may in volve ei ther a shoul der sign individually. con ver sion to a HOT lane or a HOT lane in We want to make it eas ier for coun - peak pe ri ods cre ated by mov able bar ri ers cils to en cour age peo ple to choose on a contraflow system. greener trans port op tions - whether that I-35W MnPASS is part of a co or di - is cy cling, get ting a ride in a car club or nated ef fort by Mn/DOT and the Ur ban us ing an elec tric car," Trans port Min is ter Partnership Agreement to manage increas - Sadiq Khan said. The pi lot con tra-flow ing traf fic on I-35W, High way 77/Ce dar cy cling sys tem will help to re duce jour - Av e nue and in down town Min ne ap o lis. ney times for cy clists while al low ing Through a com bi na tion of tran sit, road them to travel safely and le gally on the pric ing, tech nol ogy and telecommuting, most con ve nient routes. If this pi lot is project partners anticipate that commuters suc cess ful then coun cils across the coun - will ex pe ri ence more trans por ta tion try could be of fered the op por tu nity to choices, less traf fic con ges tion and re - use similar measures on their roads." duced com mute times on some of Min ne - The mea sures are the first to be an - sota s busiest roads, the press release said. nounced fol low ing the start of the De - For more in for ma tion, visit part ment for Trans port s Traf fic Signs Re view. The con sul ta tion on amend - 9/29-i35w-mnpass.html or con tact Nick Please turn to Page 5

5 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 5 Intelligence (continued) ments to the Traf fic Signs Reg u la tions and Gen eral Di rec tions opened Sep tem - ber 17. The clos ing has been ex tended un til De cem ber 24. Ac cord ing to news re ports, this is the first time that the De part ment for Trans - port has per mit ted an ex cep tion to the no-en try rule on one-way streets. Cur - rently, city coun cils that want to im ple - ment con tra-flow cy cling usu ally need to use en gi neer ing meth ods to cre ate a sep a - rate en try lane for cy clists. The cost of build ing these ded i cated en try lanes has kept all but a very small num ber of ju ris - dic tions from creating contra-flow lanes. In an ef fort to pro vide a more cost-ef - fec tive so lu tion, the Kensington and Chelsea pi lot will ini ti ate use of a small ex cept cy cles sign plate elim i nat ing the need for the use of ve hi cle-ac cess bol - lards or more com pli cated so lu tions. How ever, ac cord ing to the press re lease, the pi lot will in clude feeder lanes and will be closely mon i tored to ensure safety. Asked if painted mark ings will be used to de lin eate con tra-flow bike lanes from ve hi cles traf fic, De part ment of Trans port spokes woman Anna McCreadie said that painted mark ings are not re quired for the pi lot. That might change af ter the con sul ta tion pe riod, she added. But, ac cord ing to McCreadie, many of the one-way streets are too nar - row for painted bike lanes any way. They A sign allowing contraflow cycling on one-way streets. (Photo: Cour tesy of the Department for Transport) tend to be low-vol ume, low-speed streets and many are res i den tial, she said. The De part ment for Trans port plans to ex tend the pol icy to the rest of Great Brit - ain if the pi lot is suc cess ful, thereby trans - form ing thou sands of one-way streets into two-way streets for bikes. The de part ment be lieves that cur rent re quire ments that cy - clists take long de tours around one-way streets are a significant impediment to new cy clists and to more fre quent use of cy - cling as a mode of trans port. Ac cord ing to media interviews with current cyclists, the new mea sure would sim ply make legal what many cyclists do anyway. For more in for ma tion visit or con tact De part ment for Trans port spokes woman Anna McCreadie at tel.: or Anna.McCreadie@dft.gsi.gov.uk. New Mark ers on Il li nois Tollway to be Posted at Quar ter-mile In ter vals; Aims to Im prove Abil ity to Lo cate Ve hi cles in an Emergency Down ers Grove, IL The Il li nois State Toll High way Au thor ity is in creas ing the size and num ber of road - way mile post signs through out its tollway sys tem to make it eas ier for driv ers in - volved in break downs or other emer gen - cies to let ser vice pro vid ers know their lo - cation. New mile mark ers will be posted ev ery quar ter mile, whereas in the past they were placed ev ery half mile. This should re duce the need for mo tor ists to get out of their ve - hi cles in or der to lo cate the near est mile marker signs, thereby in creas ing mo tor - ists safety. Ac cord ing to toll agency spokes woman Joelle McGinnis, it is es ti - mated that 4,500 new mile marker signs will be in stalled at a cost of $125 per sign. The Il li nois Tollway Sys tem in cludes four in ter state road ways serv ing 12 coun - ties in north ern Il li nois: the Tri-State (I-94, I-294, I-80/I-294), Jane Addams Me mo - rial (I-90), Rea gan Me mo rial (I-88), and Vet er ans Me mo rial (I-355) Toll ways. The to tal mile age for all the road ways is 286 miles. McGinnis told UTM that, al though mile mark ers have been re paired and added as needed, the Il li nois Tollway had not con ducted a sys tem-wide eval u a - tion of mile mark ers since the system opened in Now the Il li nois Tollway is com plet - ing the fifth year of a $6.3 bil lion cap i tal pro gram that is aimed at re build ing and re stor ing the ma jor ity of the road way sys tem, McGinnis said. As part of the cap i tal pro gram, we have ver i fied the ac - cu racy of mile posts on all legs of the sys - tem and are in creas ing the size of the sign to meet cur rent stan dards and im prove vis i bil ity and plan to add the route des ig - na tion and di rec tion on each mile post marker sign. In ad di tion, we have de - cided to add one-quar ter mile mark ers to im prove ac cu racy of crash and incident report by our motorists. The to tal cost of the mark ers when ap - plied ev ery quar ter mile is about $562,000 money well in vested, ac - cord ing to the Tollway Au thor ity. McGinnis pointed out that the Tollway makes ex ten sive use of mile mark ers for all maintenance work activities, incident management, fire department and tow com pany re sponse bound aries, and lane closure information that is disseminated to the media. McGinnis said that the fre quency of mile post marker signs has in creased on many in ter states across the coun try as im prove ments have been done. She said, I-94 in Wis con sin has mile post marker signs ev ery two tenths of a mile, for example. In Il li nois, Tollway of fi cials, the state po lice, tow truck op er a tors and emer - gency first-re spond ers all agree that the quar ter-mile spac ing of mile post mark - ers would help cus tom ers better iden tify where they are, McGinnis said. Jennifer Smith McCord, a spokes - woman for the Vir ginia De part ment of Trans por ta tion s North ern Vir ginia Dis - trict, agreed that state ments re ceived from po lice and am bu lance dis patch ers do sup port signs be ing placed fre quently. She ex plained that, in Vir ginia, the dis - tance ac tu ally var ies from road way to road way. All of the mile mark ers on Vir - Please turn to Page 12

6 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 6 Transportation Tort Liability: Case in Review City Found Neg li gent for Fail ing to Pro vide Pe des trian Sig nal Heads at Intersection within a School Zone. Court of Ap peals Re verses Trial Court Rul ing due to Er ror in Fail ing to Ap por tion Fault to Any one Hav ing a De gree of Culpability In a judg ment given in Sep tem ber 2009, the Ten nes see Court of Ap peals va cated a judg ment given by a trial court that had ap - por tioned fault equally be tween plain tiffs and one party amongst mul ti ple de fen - dants, in a wrong ful death suit aris ing out of the death of plaintiffs' seven-year-old son. In No vem ber 2003, the fam ily of the de - ceased attended a basketball tournament at a mid dle school in the city of Clinton, TN. Dur ing the course of the eve ning, the boy and his eleven-year-old cousin left the school to fetch a per sonal item from the cousin s fam ily car. While us ing a pe des - trian cross walk, the child was struck by a ve hi cle and killed. His par ents filed a wrong ful death suit against the city of Clinton, the Clinton Util i ties Board, An der son County, An der - son County Schools, An der son County Board of Ed u ca tion and the driver of the truck in volved in the ac ci dent, as sert ing var i ous causes of ac tion against the dif fer - ent de fen dants. In ad di tion the boy s mother filed an in de pend ent claim for neg - li gent in flic tion of emotional distress. In re ply, the city of Clinton de nied all claims made against it, in vok ing as an af - fir ma tive de fense im mu ni ties un der the Ten nes see Gov ern men tal Tort Li a bil ity Act (GTLA). It also pled the doc trine of com par a tive fault as to the ac tions of the de ceased and his par ents, as well as to the ac tions of all other defendants. When the mat ter came to trial only the case against the city of Clinton was tried as plain tiffs had set tled with and dis missed their claims against the driver and the Clinton Util i ties Board, while sum mary judg ment was granted to the An der son County Board of Ed u ca tion and An der son County was vol un tarily dismissed. The trial court found the city of Clinton and the child s mother each 50% at fault for the wrong ful death of the boy. With re - gard to the mother, it found un der the cir - cum stances she had been neg li gent in al - low ing him to leave the gym in the com - pany of an other child and that this neg li - gence was also a cause of her son s death. With re gard to the city of Clinton, it found the city owned and con trolled the in - ter sec tion and that the in ter sec tion was a school zone. The in ter sec tion was de ter - mined to be dan ger ous, de fec tive and un - safe be cause it lacked pe des trian head sig - nals as re quired by the Man ual of Traf fic Con trol Bul le tin (MUTCB), which re quires pe des trian head sig nals to be in place in a school zone at any sig nal ized lo ca tion, even af ter school hours. The court also found the traf fic light pro vided in ad e quate warn ing to pe des tri ans as it is dif fi cult to ob serve when a pe des trian is within two feet of the edge of the is land. The court con cluded the city of Clinton was on no tice of the de fec tive con - di tion of the in ter sec tion for two rea sons. First, be cause a school board mem ber had re quested the place ment of pe des trian head signals at that particular intersection and it had in ves ti gated the cost of var i ous types of sig nals in re sponse to this re quest. Sec ond, be cause of the re quire ments of the MUTCB for pe des trian head sig nals in sig nal ized school zones. The court there fore ruled that the city of Clinton was neg li gent in its fail - ure to pro vide pe des trian head sig nal iza tion for the intersection at issue and this negligence was in part the cause of the child s death. Both par ties ap pealed these find ings. The ap peals court found that the trier of fact in a com par a tive fault case, such as this, should first de ter mine the to tal amount of the plain tiffs' dam ages with out re gard to fault, and then ap por tion dam ages on the per cent age of fault at trib ut able to each party. The trial court did not fol low this pro - ce dure, al though the city of Clinton as de - fen dant had raised the com par a tive fault of the driver as an affirmative defense. The ap peals court ruled that the trial court had com mit ted re vers ible er ror when it failed to rule on the is sue of neg li gence and fault to be at trib uted to the driver, de - spite the fact he had reached an agree ment with plain tiffs. There fore it va cated the The intersection (center of photo) where the tragic accident took place, leading to the tort case. (Photo: Cour tesy of Google, Inc.) judg ment of the trial court and re manded the case to re con sider its opin ion and to ap por tion fault to any one hav ing a degree of culpability. The court of ap peals also noted there was material evidence relating to the cul - pa bil ity and fault to be at trib uted to the driver. In the orig i nal com plaint, plain tiffs al leged he had failed to keep a proper look out, con trol his ve hi cle, yield to a pe - des trian in a cross walk, and to ex er cise cau tion un der the cir cum stances. Ad di - tion ally re sults of a blood test fol low ing the ac ci dent showed the pres ence of a sed - ative-like medication that could affect his ability to operate a motor vehicle. On ap peal the driver, aged 85, did not ap pear but parts of his de po si tion were read into ev i dence. The court found that the ev i dence showed that, be cause the driver was ad mit tedly aware of the pres - ence of the chil dren at the edge of the traf - fic is land, he had a height ened duty of care. It quoted le gal pre ce dents dat ing from 1921 that chil dren, wher ever they go, must be ex pected to act upon child ish in stincts and im pulses; and oth ers who are charge able with a duty of care and cau tion to wards them, must cal cu late upon this, and take precautions accordingly. The costs of the ap peal were as sessed one half to the plain tiffs and one half to the city of Clinton.

7 The Wash ing ton State De part ment of Trans por ta tion (WSDOT) is tak ing steps to ap ply ac tive traf fic man age ment (ATM). A net work of sen sors and elec - tronic signs will be used to re duce col li - sions and smooth traf fic flow on some of the state s busi est routes. ATM is a key el e - ment of Mov ing Wash ing ton, WSDOT s state wide con ges tion re lief pro gram. Ac - cord ing to WSDOT, along with stra te gi - cally add ing new road way ca pac ity and man ag ing the de mand for lane space with more com mute choices, ATM uses ad - vanced tech nol ogy and new tech niques to make high ways more ef fi cient and the trans por ta tion sys tem better pre pared for increasing traffic demands. New elec tronic speed-limit and lanesta tus signs will warn driv ers of slow traf - fic ahead so as to re duce the like li hood of rear-end col li sions that cause more than 25 per cent of traf fic con ges tion, a WSDOT press re lease said. The sys tem will de liver information automatically by calculating traf fic data from sen sors em bed ded in the pave ment. The sign boards will pro vide in for ma tion to driv ers in real time, ad vis - ing them to ad just their speed be fore reach - ing slower traf fic. They will also alert driv ers to switch lanes when an in ci dent blocks traf fic ahead or to pick an other route before getting caught in traffic congestion. Slow ing down driv ers be fore they reach the point where the traf fic stops will pre vent panic brak ing that can cause col - lisions, WSDOT Toll Di vi sion Di rec tor Craig Stone said. The new signs will pro - vide driv ers ad vance warn ing to keep traf - fic mov ing safer and more smoothly. Ac cord ing to the WSDOT Ur ban Cor ri - dors Of fice, ATM tools and tech nol ogy have been suc cess ful at re duc ing col li sions and im prov ing traf fic flow in ur ban ar eas through out Eu rope in clud ing Bir ming - ham, Eng land; Rot ter dam, The Neth er - lands; and Hessen, Ger many. In Eu rope, the benefits of ATM include: 3-7 per cent more ve hi cles moved through a lane with ATM dur ing rush hour. Over all ca pac ity of road ways with ATM in creased by as much as 22 per cent. THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 7 WSDOT Us ing Sen sors and Over head Elec tronic Signs to Ease Con ges tion Ac tive Traf fic Man age ment Tech niques Suc cess ful in Eu rope New elec tronic speed-limit and lane-sta tus signs, as il lus trated here, will warn driv ers of an in ci dent ahead and alert driv ers to switch lanes. (Photo: Cour tesy of WSDOT) Con ges tion caus ing in ci dents, such as crashes, de creased by up to 30 per cent. Sec ond ary crashes caused by block ing in ci dents fell by per cent. There will be some ed u ca tion needed for U.S. driv ers in terms of learn ing what new elec tronic mes sage signs are tell ing them, WSDOT En gi neer Mark Saw yer told UTM recently. Such signs have been used in Eu - rope for some 20 years, but this is the first in stal la tion of its kind in the U.S. In the first ATM in stal la tion, 15 new sign bridges will be in stalled over the north - bound lanes of I-5 from Boe ing Ac cess Road to I-90 ap proach ing down town Se at - tle. Saw yer said the bridges will be spaced ap prox i mately a half-mile apart and will sup port full-color elec tronic mes sage signs over each lane. The signs will be used to alert mo tor ists of chang ing speed lim its and other spe cific mes sages, for ex am ple, whether a lane is blocked. There will also be one large elec tronic mes sage board at each lo ca tion. These will dis play traf fic alerts and other in for ma tion, such as al ter - nate route sug ges tions. This in stal la tion is expected to be complete by spring Con ges tion oc curs very fre quently on I-5 ap proach ing down town Se at tle, Saw yer said. Driv ers have to go from 60 mph to zero very quickly. We are try ing to slow driv ers down be fore they hit they con ges - tion, he said, thereby re duc ing the like li - hood of accidents. Driv ers will see vary ing speed lim its, alerts or even blank signs, de pend ing on ac tual traf fic con di tions. With a se ries of sign bridges, it will be pos si ble to first drop the speed limit and warn mo tor ists of a prob lem ahead. Closer to an in ci dent, speed limit signs will alert driv ers of an ap proach ing lane clo sure, per haps with a yel low ar row. At the in ci dent, a red X will in di cate which lanes are blocked. ATM tech nol ogy will also be ap plied on two other Wash ing ton high ways. First, on SR 520 and its float ing bridges be - tween I-5 and 130 th Av e nue NE in Belle - vue, vari able speed limit and elec tronic traf fic in for ma tion signs will help smooth traf fic flow by the end of sum mer In this in stal la tion, the tools are be ing funded through the Lake Wash ing ton Ur ban Part - ner ship, a fed eral pro gram that teams WSDOT with King County, the Puget Sound Re gional Coun cil and the Fed eral Highway Administration. Last, by March 2011, ATM tech nol ogy will be in stalled on I-90 be tween I-5 and 150 th Av e nue SE in Belle vue. Nine teen ad di tional sign bridges will pro vide traf fic and vari able speed limit signs over each lane from Se at tle to I-405. For more in for ma tion, visit marterhighways.htm or con tact Mark Saw yer at (425)

8 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 8 Product and Industry News icarpool.com Wins Global Com pe ti tion for So lu tion to Traf fic Con ges tion; On line Ser vice Pro vides Trav el ers with Multi-Modal Travel Choices icarpool, an Issaquah, Wash ing ton-based startup firm, was an nounced the win ner in the global ITS Con ges tion Chal lenge, a com pe ti tion de signed to find the best ideas for re duc ing traf fic con ges tion. The In tel li gent Trans por ta tion So ci ety of Amer ica (ITS Amer ica), IBM, Spencer Trask Col lab o ra tive In no va tions (STCI), and part ners an nounced the re sults of the com pe ti tion dur ing the 16th World Con - gress on In tel li gent Trans port Sys tems in Stock holm, Swe den in late Sep tem ber. The three or ga ni za tions, spon sors of the chal lenge, said that icarpool.com was cho - sen win ner from more than 116 en tries from 20 coun tries. The or ga ni za tion will re ceive a cash in vest ment of $50,000, which will be used for fur ther development of its solution, the press release said. An on line ser vice, icarpool pro vides com mu ters and other trav el ers with com - pre hen sive choices for modes of travel other than driv ing alone tra di tional carpool, dy namic carpool, vanpool, bike and tran sit. It is a pro gram that helps trav - el ers with all their trips com mute, per - sonal, events, long dis tance trips and real-time trips. In fact, icarpool is cur - rently build ing in fra struc ture to pro vide one multimodal view of all the travel op - tions avail able, as so ci ated costs, time taken, carbon footprint, and more. icarpool pro vides com pre hen sive trans por ta tion de mand man age ment so lu - tion to em ploy ers, pub lic agen cies such as MPC/MPOs, city ju ris dic tions, re gional agen cies, TMA/TMOs and state DOTs, says Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, founder of icarpool. We work with em ploy ers and pub lic agen cies of all sizes small, me - dium and large. We take a multi-pronged ap proach to pro vide the right so lu tion to our cus tom ers based on their cur rent re - quire ments and po ten tial growth. Em ploy - ers and smaller agen cies are well served with our out-of-the-box sys tem based on an an nual sub scrip tion model. We pro vide a cus tom ized, ded i cated so lu tion for mid-size and larger pub lic agen cies. With both these ap proaches, icarpool man ages Amol Brahme (co-founder, icarpool.com), and Lakshmi Krishnamurthy (founder, icarpool.com) re ceive the prize for win ning the global ITS Con ges tion Chal lenge. (Photo: Cour tesy of icarpool) host ing and main te nance of the sys tem thus em pow er ing the trans por ta tion plan - ners to focus their energy on outreach and commuter assistance. Krishnamurthy told UTM that icarpool is be ing used by em ploy ers and pub lic agen cies through out the USA. John Deere, Rio Tinto, Cox Com mu ni ca tions, Payless Shoe Source are some of the em - ploy ers us ing icarpool, she said. SANDAG s icommute, MoDOT s Carpool Con nec tions, Coastal Com mu ters from Sa van nah, GA are some of the re - gional agency pro grams pow ered by icarpool. We are cur rently work ing on the re place ment of RideshareOnline.com - a tri-state pro ject for the states of Wash ing - ton, Or e gon and Idaho and the pro ject is the largest in this space. icarpool of fers a user-friendly website and mo bile ap pli ca tion for find ing carpool matches and al ter na tives to drive alone. It also of fers ad min is tra tion tools for em - ploy ers which sim plify setup and im ple - men ta tion, con fig u ra tion, man age ment of pro gram in cen tives, pro gram track ing and re port ing, and com mu ter ser vices. icarpool can be cus tom ized with any organization s logos and content. The icarpool so lu tion can also be cus - tom ized to or ga ni za tion goals re gard ing emis sions, park ing sav ings and com mute modes. In ad di tion to pre-canned ben e fits such as guar an teed ride home, em ploy ers can con fig ure and man age cus tom ben e fits and track progress of the program. It also has a dy namic carpool fea ture that en ables em ploy ees to con nect with carpool part ners for their trip in stantly. icarpool s real-time fea tures al low em - ploy ees to find carpool matches through mo bile phones, SMS and desk top browsers. Ac cord ing to the icarpool website, other high lights of their pro gram in clude: Quick pro gram launch with no on-site in stal la tion needed. It is an Internet-based so lu tion that is hands free to main tain. No ad min is tra tion over heads to launch and sus tain the pro gram, and em ploy ees need no train ing to use the ap pli ca tion. It can be con fig ured as an ex clu sive ridematch in which em ploy ees may match with co work ers only or it can in - clude nearby com pa nies. No spam, high stan dards of pri vacy pro - tec tion and data se cu rity and in teg rity. The icarpool ap pli ca tion suite has multi-level administration capabilities the re gional agency is at the top level, transportation management agencies and or ga ni za tions op er ate un der the re gional agency um brella, mul ti ple em ploy ers op - er ate un der each TMA, and trav el ers or end us ers use the ser vices at the last level. The so lu tion has an in te grated in cen tive man - age ment mod ule for pro vid ing in cen tives such as carpool per mit, guar an teed ride home (GRH), bike lock ers, prize draw - ings, fi nan cial sti pends and more. In cen - tives can be based on trips logged in the cal en dar. GIS data such as park and ride lots and bike routes that agen cies may have can be in te grated with the so lu tion and over laid on in ter ac tive maps. We hope this win will bring in creased at ten tion to the work we do," said Krishnamurthy. In the last 12 months, icarpool us ers have re corded over 10 mil - lion miles us ing al ter na tive modes and saved over 10 mil lion pounds of CO2 emis sions. Re gional agen cies, city ju ris - dic tions and em ploy ers across the globe can take ad van tage of our so lu tion to day to achieve great re sults in mit i gat ing traf fic con ges tion and re lated environmental issues. The first global ITS Con ges tion Chal - lenge was open to en tre pre neurs, com mu - ters, transportation experts, researchers in all fields, universities, and citizens around the world. icarpool.com was one of nine Please turn to Page 9

9 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 9 Product and Industry News (continued) fi nal ists from Hun gary, Ire land, Can ada, the Neth er lands and the United States, se - lected by an open global com mu nity of more than 4,000 peo ple, in clud ing trans - por ta tion in dus try pro fes sion als and the gen eral pub lic. For more in for ma tion, visit www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressreleas e/28467.wss or or con - tact Lakshmi Krishnamurthy at lakshmi@icarpool.com. Transcore Se lected as Prime Con trac tor for the Im ple men ta tion of the Larg est U.S. HOT Lane Sys tem Houston s Metropolitan Transit Authority of Har ris County (METRO) has se lected TransCore, a sub sid iary of Roper In dus tries, as its prime con trac tor to de sign, fur nish, in - stall, op er ate, and main tain a high oc cu pancy toll and automated reversible gate operation sys tem for 83 miles of re vers ible high oc cu - pancy ve hi cle (HOV) lanes. The to tal con tract is val ued at an es ti - mated $81 mil lion and is 80-per cent fed er - ally funded, ac cord ing to a TransCore press re lease. The to tal con tract is val ued at an es ti mated $81 mil lion and is 80-per cent fed er ally funded. Fi nal con tract ne go ti a - tions with the Au thor ity are un der way and are ex pected to be com pleted in No vem ber The first cor ri dors will be op er a - tional by late 2010 and the en tire sys tem will be com pleted in two years. TransCore will pro vide op er a tions and main te nance of the sys tem for five years following the installation. The High Oc cu pancy Ve hi cle Im prove - ment Pro gram will con vert five ex ist ing HOV cor ri dors through out the Hous ton met ro pol i tan area, in clud ing I-45 North and South, U.S. 290, and U.S. 59 North and South, to al low sin gle-oc cu pant ve hi - cles ac cess to the HOV lanes for a toll. The pro gram will im prove safety by pro vid ing an au to mated re vers ible gate op er a tion (ARGO) sys tem to con trol en try into the reversible roadway system. The conver - sion is ex pected to in crease uti li za tion of the HOV sys tem by up to 50 per cent and de crease congestion in the general purpose freeway lanes. Ac cord ing to Hous ton METRO, the sys tem will be im ple mented over the next 2.5 years at an ex pected cost of $70 mil - A bus entering Houston's HOV system. (Photo: Courtesy of METRO) lion. The pro jected op er a tional cost of the sys tem is about $9 mil lion an nu ally. The max i mum toll has not yet been es tab lished, and will re quire ac tion by METRO s Board of Directors. The HOV Im prove ment Pro gram in - cludes 156 lanes, a cus tomer ser vice cen - ter, and back-of fice sys tems, as well as an in ter face with the area s multi-agency traf - fic management center, Houston TranStar. The sys tem will be fully elec tronic, and tolls will be cal cu lated us ing vari able pric - ing. The pro gram will in cor po rate TransCore s ra dio fre quency iden ti fi ca - tion (RFID) tech nol ogy that is interoperable with all toll ing agencies throughout Texas. As a HOT sys tem, all five cor ri dors will be op er ated with tolls ad justed to man age traf fic den sity. Ac cord ing to METRO, the HOT lanes will be op er ated to pre serve and im prove the LOS for com mu ter bus routes and vanpools on the HOV lane. The HOT lanes pro gram will pro vide re sources and equip ment to better man age oc cu - pancy re stric tions on the HOV lanes. METRO will at tempt to main tain a level of ser vice of about 1,500 ve hi cles per hour, or an ap prox i mate speed of about 50 mph. Ac cord ing to METRO, cur rent HOV us ers will con tinue to use the lanes free of charge and may ac cess the HOT lanes dur ing all op er at ing hours. Cur rently all of the HOV lanes re quire 2 or more peo ple per ve hi cle, ex cept for US 290 West, which re quires 3 or more peo ple per ve hi cle. Each ac cess point to the HOT/HOV lanes will di vide so that HOT lane en ter lane through a sep a rate path from HOV us ers. The HOV lane will have a mon i tor ing booth for vi sual checks of ve hi cles to see if they have the re quired num ber of oc cu pants. The HOT lane toll price will be posted in ad vance along ap - proaches to the lane and will vary based on traf fic con ges tion a lower speed in the HOV lane will re sult in a higher toll. The toll for a ve hi cle will not change af ter a pa - tron en ters the lane. Toll col lec tion will be au to matic us ing EZtag transponders. Violators will be fined through li censeplate photo technology. One road way, US 290, al ready has toll equip ment, which will need to be up - graded. Ac cord ing to METRO, the cen tral lanes there have been op er ated as HOT lanes for ve hi cles with 2 oc cu pants at a flat toll rate of $2 per trip. This pro gram, called QuickRide, of fers lim ited rush hour ser - vice 6:45 a.m. 8:00 a.m. on week days only. Toll rev e nues will be used for ad di - tional en force ment and im proved up keep and main te nance of lanes and equip ment. For more in for ma tion, visit Lanes.aspx and ml, or con tact METRO spokes woman Raequel Rob erts at (713) or rr02@ridemetro.org.

10 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 10 Con tin ued from Page 1 Kan sas Tests the Use of Eco nomic Im pact in Rat ing High way Pro jects out, Schneweis said. This pro cess of eval u - at ing high way pro jects on the ba sis of eco - nomic im pact as well as en gi neer ing fac - tors has been gen er at ing a lot of back and forth, he added. The new pro cess is be ing used to rank high way pro jects in both ur - ban and ru ral ar eas. KDOT s area en gi neers talked with lo - cal of fi cials and col lected in put for ap prox - i mately three years, and com pleted sur veys for nearly 90 road pro jects. In Oc to ber, KDOT staff pre sented the ini tial pro ject scorings at lo cal con sul ta tion meet ings across the state. In for ma tion from the sur - veys is posted on the Kan sas Trans por ta - tion On line Com mu nity, and lo cal cit i zens can sub mit fur ther com - ments on line. Ac cord ing to KDOT, the in - for ma tion will be used to run economic impact models on the projects. The fi nal list of state high way pro jects will help guide the de vel op ment of state s next long-range trans por ta tion pro gram, Schneweis said. KDOT will be meet ing with mem bers of the state leg is la ture to help set pri or i ties for the long-range pro - gram. He pointed out that, un less the state leg is la ture au tho rizes ad di tional fund ing, KDOT does not have the money to build any of the can di date pro jects. The pur pose of this pi lot ef fort is to ex am ine a new se - lec tion pro cess and iden tify po ten tial pro - jects so that KDOT is ready when funding becomes available. I can t stress enough that we are pi lot - ing this pro cess and this is sim ply an op - por tu nity for us to prac tice and eval u ate how this se lec tion pro cess might work, said Julie Lorenz, man ager of the pi lot pro - ject. Un til a new trans por ta tion pro gram is passed, KDOT won t have enough fund - ing to be gin work on any of the pro jects being evaluated. Schneweis added that there is a lot of un cer tainty about fed eral trans por ta tion fund ing un til Con gress passes a new multi-year trans por ta tion bill to help fi - nance in fra struc ture pro jects. Fed eral trans por ta tion fund ing ex pired on September 30. For more in for ma tion visit, and or con tact Kyle Schneweis at (785) or kyle@ksdot.org. Con tin ued from Page 1 Modular Bikestation Installed in Covina, California for a sin gle Se cure Bike Mod ule, but the LEED 3.0-com pli ant de sign is scal able, al - low ing the city to en large the fa cil ity or add new mod ules when re quired. Ac cord - ing to Bikestation spokes woman Deborah Jones, the cost of a Bikestation mod ule is typ i cally less than $100,000 and in cludes the first three years of ser vice and ad min is - tration. The new Bikestation Se cure Bike Mod ule is in line with the stra te gic plan for the city of Covina. We re ac tively de vel - An illustration of the inside of a modular Bikestation. (Photo: Cour tesy of Mobis/Bikestation) op ing en vi ron men tally sus tain able pro - grams that both serve the health and con ve - nience of our cit i zens and re duce our car - bon foot print, said Daryl Parrish, Covina s city man ager. While some of these pro grams can take a long time to im - ple ment, the Bikestation is a fast, cost-ef - fec tive pro ject that can ben e fit the peo ple of Covina right away. This is also an ex am - ple of a truly ef fec tive pub lic/pri vate part - ner ship that we ex pect to see more of across the U.S. We re proud to be a leader in Cal i for nia s push to alternative transportation. The city of Covina Metrolink Sta tion is the third busi est sta - tion in the Metrolink sys tem, serv ing 15 cit - ies in the east ern San Ga briel Val ley. Bikestation Covina adds bike tran sit in fra - struc ture that makes us ing mass tran sit more con ve nient for more people, more often. As Covina s Mayor Wal ter Allen said, Covina has one of the busi est Metrolink sta tions in South ern Cal - i for nia. For over 10 years, our city coun cil has worked hard to de velop in no va tive op - tions in trans por ta tion. Our new Bikestation Covina Se cure Bike Mod ule will al low Covina res i dents to bike to the sta tion for trans por ta tion and rec re ation. It re duces the need for park ing, im proves peo ple s health, and low ers emis sions, and the clever, in no va tive de sign of the mod ule fits right into the look of our downtown. The Bikestation is good for the en vi ron - ment and for the peo ple of Covina. Cy clists who wish to use the new Bikestation can sign up by tele phone or by us ing the Internet at Their ac cess key fobs will al low them not only to use Bikestation Covina, but also any Bikestation in the United States. Mobis Trans por ta tion ex pects there to be 200 Bikestations in op er a tion within the next five years. For more in for ma tion on Bikestation, visit and or con tact Deborah Jones (714) ext.113 or Deborah@strategiesadpr.com or info@bikestation.com.

11 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 11 VA County Files Law suit against FHWA and Vir ginia on HOT Lanes County Al leges En vi ron men tal Im pact Anal y sis Is Insufficient and that the Project Violates Federal Law The Arlington County Board has filed suit in U.S. Dis trict Court for the Dis trict of Co - lum bia against the United States De part - ment of Trans por ta tion, the Fed eral High - way Ad min is tra tion (FHWA) and the Com mon wealth of Vir ginia over the pro - posed High Oc cu pancy Toll (HOT) Lanes pro ject for I-95/395. The suit al leges that the FHWA and the Com mon wealth failed to meet nec es sary re quire ments un der the Na tional En vi ron - men tal Pol icy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act be fore the FHWA ap proved a Cat - e gor i cal Ex clu sion for the pro ject. The Cat e gor i cal Ex clu sion al lows the HOT lanes pro ject to move for ward with out the full en vi ron men tal and pub lic health anal - y sis and pub lic review required by federal law. Ac cord ing to an Arlington County press re lease, due to the ex clu sion, the FHWA and the Com mon wealth have not done suf fi cient anal y sis to de ter mine whether the over all HOT Lanes pro ject causes sig nif i cant en vi ron men tal and pub - lic health im pacts. This in cludes im pacts on vul ner a ble pop u la tions and the dis pa - rate treat ment of low-in come and mi nor ity com mu ni ties along the cor ri dor, the press re lease said. County of fi cials be lieve the de ter mi na tion is wrong for the HOT Lanes pro ject and has ad verse ef fects on the health and welfare of Arlington s residents. The county was left with no al ter na tive, said Barbara A. Favola, chair man of the Arlington County Board. We are en cour - aged that VDOT [Vir ginia De part ment of Trans por ta tion] has elected to de lay the pro ject. Now, the Cat e gor i cal Ex clu sion must be with drawn and a proper and full en vi ron men tal and pub lic anal y sis con - ducted. Favola said that con ver sa tions should con tinue with stake holder groups in the hope that a le gally bind ing settlement can be reached." County of fi cials faulted the HOT Lanes pro ject for fo cus ing on mov ing in di vid ual cars in stead of mov ing peo ple, thereby deemphasizing tran sit and HOV op tions, and con flict ing with air qual ity goals in the re gion. The pro ject is likely to in crease con ges tion through out the I-95/395 cor ri - dor, lengthen travel times, es pe cially for tran sit, for which the fa cil ity was orig i nally built with tax payer dol lars, and in crease pub lic health risks. Also the county says that af flu ent com mu ters who drive alone will get im proved ac cess to ex ist ing tran sit and HOV op tions, while those who can not afford tolls will have longer commutes. The pro ject will also worsen air qual ity in the re gion, par tic u larly along the pro ject cor ri dor, dis pa rately im pact ing low in come and mi nor ity com mu ni ties, the county stressed. The planned Shirlington off-ramp and the in ad e quate de sign at the Eads Street ter mi nus will bur den lo cal streets, par tic u larly in Arlington, with a sig - nificant increase in traffic and negative impacts on his toric com mu ni ties. Fur ther - more, the project actually encourages addi - tional sprawl, fur ther ex ac er bat ing traf fic con ges tion and harm ful air emis sions. The fail ure to ad e quately mea sure the im pacts of the pro ject, county of fi cials warned, cre - ates the po ten tial for long-term and wide - spread prob lems for the re gion. Arlington asked the Prince William County to join in the lawsuit, but the county declined. Ac cord ing to me dia re ports, some pub - lic officials and private organizations in neigh bor ing coun ties and the larger Wash - ing ton, D.C, re gion have sug gested that it is in ap pro pri ate for the Arlington law suit to con sider the dis pa rate im pact of toll roads on so cio eco nomic and ra cial groups. But, the county says the law suit is in tended to force state of fi cials to re eval u ate the ef fect of air pol lu tion on nearby schools, day-care centers and low-income housing. Ba sis for the law suit: The Cat e gor i cal Ex clu sion for the pro ject was is sued in Jan - u ary 2009, clear ing the way for the pro ject to move ahead. Af ter a Cat e gor i cal Ex clu - sion is is sued, the only av e nue for ap peal is a law suit. Since 2005, the county has ques - tioned and com mented on the anal y sis and plans for the pro posed HOT lanes pro ject to VDOT and to its pri vate-sec tor partner Fluor-Transurban. The county be lieves that VDOT has ex ag ger ated pro ject ben e fits and un der es - ti mated the ad verse im pacts, both re gion - ally and in Arlington. In ad di tion to traf - fic, con cerns have been raised about de - graded emergency response capacity, lo - cal and re gional air qual ity im pacts, en - force ment, pe des trian/bi cy cle con flicts, and lo cal fund ing to mit i gate the im pacts on lo cal streets and main tain the current level of transit service. Spe cif i cally, the county al leges that the man da tory NEPA pro ce dures were not sat is fied in an a lyz ing and de sign ing the pro ject. Mod el ing used to de ter mine the pro ject im pacts was in suf fi cient and not con sis tent with stan dard prac tice. The re sult ing pro ject de sign does not ad dress the im pacts of the pro ject, the full di men - sions of which can not be known un til a proper anal y sis is done. The Air Qual ity Anal y sis Tech ni cal Re port and other doc - u ments sup port ing the Cat e gor i cal Ex clu - sion do not pro vide the req ui site anal y sis to de ter mine as re quired by NEPA whether the over all pro ject causes sig nif i - cant en vi ron men tal and public health impacts, including impacts on vulnerable populations. The Fed eral High way Ad min is tra tion and VDOT should re scind the Cat e gor i cal Exclusion classification and, at a minimum, un der take an en vi ron men tal as sess - ment, said Arlington County At tor ney Ste phen MacIsaac. We urge the state to en sure that the pro ject is re de signed to re - flect the new anal y sis and full range of im - pacts; and fund the mit i ga tion of those im - pacts by in cor po rat ing the mit i ga tion mea sures in the agreement with Fluor-Transurban." For more in for ma tion, visit or con tact Arlington County spokes woman Di ana Sun at (703)

12 THE URBAN TRANSPORTATION MONITOR, NOVEMBER 9, 2009, VOL. 23 NO. 9 Page 12 Con tin ued from Page 3 Per sonal Rapid Tran sit Sys tem to Open at Heathrow in Spring 2010 erational test ing in July 2009, and ATS successfully completed the Single Vehicle Certification Testing Program. Multi-Ve - hicle Certification Testing is now underway. Asked about any prob lems, Lowson said, In en vi ron ments such as air ports, there would al ways be is sues around ra dio com mu ni ca tions, but we have now over - come these and are in fi nal sys tem prov - ing. He added, As with many new sys - tems, it has been chal leng ing and ex cit ing. The com pany has gone through some ma - Con tin ued from Page 5 Intelligence ginia s in ter states meet at least the fed eral re quire ment of signs at the whole mile, she said. Some re gions of the state have in ter me - di ate signs, McCord added. She pointed out that all of I-81, most of I-66 and por - tions of I-95 have signs ev ery one tenth of a mile, for ex am ple. How ever, she noted that these signs are ac tu ally smaller than the whole-mile signs that meet the fed eral re quire ments. In con - trast, in the Rich mond area, McCord said, the signs on I-95 are placed ev ery two tenths of a mile, and these are en hanced signs that are larger, show ing the in ter state and mile marker. Ac cord ing to McCord, 523 miles that is, al most half of Vir ginia in ter state high - ways have signs placed more fre quently than one sign per mile. The re main ing 594 miles have signs at the whole mile. Gen - er ally our traf fic en gi neers pre fer the mark - ers be placed more fre quently than one per mile, she said. McCord noted that along much of Vir - ginia s in ter states, there are fre quent cross - over roads and ref er ence points such as build ings and other signs that can be help - ful to stranded mo tor ists and emer gency re - spond ers. For more in for ma tion, visit or con tact Joelle McGinnis at (630) , ext or jmcginni@getipass.com or con tact Jennifer McCord at Jennifer.McCord@vdot.virginia.gov. An ULTra personal rapid transit station. (Photo: Cour tesy of ATS) jor changes mov ing from an en gi neer - ing/de sign to an op er at ing type com pany. In the United States, in ter est in PRT sys tems is grow ing. Of fi cials in Santa Cruz, CA and Ithaca, NY are ex am in ing the pos si bil ity of us ing PRT in their cit ies, as is the city coun cil of Moun tain View, Cal i for nia, where Google is head quar - tered. In Mas sa chu setts, some pro po nents are ad vo cat ing a PRT sys tem link ing uni - ver si ties in Boston and Cam bridge. San Jose has is sued a re quest for pro pos als for build ing a PRT sys tem near the air port. Many seem to agree with a 2007 re port is - sued by New Jer sey s De part ment of Tran - sit that said PRT has the po ten tial to help ad dress cer tain trans por ta tion needs in a cost-ef fec tive, en vi ron men tally-re spon si - ble, trav eler-re spon sive manner. For more in for ma tion, visit and or con tact Mar tin Lowson at martin@atsltd.co.uk.