Peering over the horizon, we can easily glimpse the future of transportation in South Florida.
Many of tomorrow’s challenges and solutions are already in plain sight. Rush hour has stretched to many hours. South Florida ranks as one of the most congested regions of the country. For drivers and transit users, getting from one place to another can feel like moving through a labyrinth – unsure of which way to go on any given day, the path plagued by unforeseen circumstances and one’s arrival time filled with uncertainty.
And for transit users, there is the added challenge of public funding: Will the bus come on time or even at all? Beyond stress impacting our lives when it comes to traffic congestion, more hours spent on the road translate into fewer hours spent at work and even fewer hours spent with families. The costs of lost productivity can be measured in millions of dollars.
The bad news is yesterday’s solutions no longer work. We can’t build our way out of congestion. Turning two-lane roads into six lane highways is no longer financially practical, and would have catastrophic impacts on both the human and the natural environment.
The good news is that by considering new approaches to congestion relief and planning for tomorrow’s solutions, transportation will not only be less intrusive and less expensive, but will yield far better results. “We’re already seen the fusion of technology and transportation,” said Jim Ely, Executive Director of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise. “In just a few short years, we’ve gone from dropping change at toll booths to open road tolling and beyond,” added Ely.
Regional approach needed
Historically, South Florida’s traffic woes have been treated as individual parts rather than as a whole. Each county has identified its own priorities and within each county, cities as well as transit agencies have operated independently, solving bits and pieces of a greater problem but doing little to address the entire problem.
The real answer begins with a regional approach. Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations is designed to optimize the performance of the existing infrastructure by crossing political and geographical boundaries, using many different modes of transportation. As the approach to traffic management transitions from expanding our infrastructure to optimizing our infrastructure, technology will play an increasingly larger role. Some of this technology is already in use, with such recently implemented programs as managed lanes and electronic tolling.
On 95 Express, for example, the TSM&O; concept is already proving effective. The Florida Department of Transportation is actively managing the flow of cars, trucks and buses on I-95. The combination of dynamically priced high occupancy toll lanes, ramp entry management, and express bus service has resulted in more choices and more reliable travel between downtown Miami and the Golden Glades Interchange. With the next phase of 95 Express, from Golden Glades to Broward Boulevard, soon to come on line, even more people will benefit.
“Having a fully integrated transportation system that includes transit is the key to our long term, future success. This means, among other things, strengthening our partnerships,” said District Four Secretary Jim Wolfe, who manages FDOT’s Broward-to-St. Lucie region. The TSM&O; Program in Broward will be jointly managed by the Broward County Traffic Engineering Division, Broward County Transit and FDOT. The programs will enhance travel time using technology such as close-circuit television for traffic monitoring and incident detection, traveler information signs and modern signal software that will allow real-time signal retiming.
Taking a peek over the 10-year horizon, it is not difficult to see managed lanes will be used in many different places along with express bus service and bus rapid transit, ramp signals and quicker incident response. Both Miami-Dade and Broward County currently have two transportation management centers that monitor traffic conditions on our highways and dispatch Road Rangers to clear incidents much more quickly than ever before.
Societal changes a factor
But one factor in managing traffic will be a change in societal and workplace schedules.
Transportation Demand Management is an additional tool for managing the flow of traffic. The traditional 9-to-5 schedule is already obsolete as corporate America tries to meet the needs of its customers. Many banks have expanded hours along with pharmacies, dental offices, and physical therapists. The concept of “flex” scheduling of workplace arrival and departure hours will become increasingly attractive in the near future as companies offer incentives for their employees to break out of the 9-to-5 box.
The flex schedule concept will benefit our community by reducing the number of vehicles on our roads during peak travel times. Spreading out the peak will go a long way in relieving congestion.
Telecommuting, once the stuff of science fiction, is already freeing more people from the daily grind and more space on the road. As faster Internet service becomes standard, more people will turn to telecommuting, not only to save money but to spend more time with their families. To promote these changes, the South Florida Commuter Assistance Program is promoting alternatives to drive-alone commuting, working with employers to promote flex schedules, helping commuters find carpool matches and advocating the cost saving benefits of TDM.
Smart cars, smart highways
Reduced congestion is only one very important vision of the future. Safety, the most important priority of all transportation planners, will be greatly enhanced by new technologies.
Not far down the road, we likely will have sensors in vehicles and roads to warn of hazards, to correct errors before they become fatal mistakes, and to alert motorists when they are following too close to the vehicle in front of them or even drifting out of their lane. “In the future, vehicles and roadways are connected. Cars will communicate with the road, the road with cars, and cars with each other sharing information in microseconds,” said District Six secretary, Gus Pego, who manages FDOT’s Miami-Dade and Monroe County region. “This connectivity will improve safety and mobility.”
By the end of this decade, nearly all cars will carry some kind of GPS navigation device. Most buses and trains already do. Transportation managers can also identify, in real-time, how many passengers are on a bus. The days of unfolding a tattered map and holding it up to the window will be over.
Private sector interests have already developed advanced trip planning software to map road trips and public transit routes. We will be alerted when there is an incident up ahead or an approaching storm system. And we will know when the speed limit changes and exactly how long it will take to reach our destination. Perhaps there will even be verbal warnings for us to slow down when we come to a sharp curve or told in advance that a motorist up ahead has slammed their brakes, which normally results in at least one serious collision.
The future is far less certain when it comes to fiscal constraints. The days of massive, single agency-directed concrete and steel projects to solve our traffic woes are going to be rare. Public-private partnerships and joint, multi-agency ventures are the shape of things to come.
The State Road 826-836 Interchange Reconstruction Project, currently underway in Miami-Dade County, is a prime example of interagency cooperation. Partially funded by the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, and bolstered by federal stimulus dollars, this project has brought together several partners, all tasked with reconstructing and upgrading an interchange that sees more than 430,000 vehicles per day.
There likely will be more joint ventures as well as a greater emphasis on public transit. Long-term transportation planners realize that although South Florida has traditionally been a car culture, with public transit often being the mode of last resort, this condition can change. The real goal of traffic managers is to focus more on moving people than vehicles. Sixty people on a bus represent 60 fewer vehicles on the road. The allure of riding a Wi-Fi equipped bus to and from work will more than likely erase the outdated social stigma that once afflicted public transit in South Florida.
Revenue generated by tolls could also go to expanding transit, bringing bus stops and/ or shuttles closer to our doorsteps. The old adage of “had to wait an hour because I missed the bus” could very well be replaced by “I didn’t even have time to warm the bench because the next bus came ten minutes later.”
One thing is certain: new technology will not only find its way into our homes, but will be integrated into the roads that take us home.
Brian R. Rick is public outreach and media specialist for the Florida Department of Transportation in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
