Mike on Traffic

Negative Economic Impacts of Roundabouts?

Here is an article from Binghamton, NY briefly discussing the political posturing over putting a roundabout in their downtown.  Apparently the local business owners believe the roundabout may kill their businesses.

Reconstructing streets in downtown areas is often an economic negative for the business owners.  When I was an intern for the City of St. Paul about fifteen years ago, a coffee shop owner got a fair amount of press for coming out and throwing donuts at the equipment reconstructing the street in front of the restaurant.  The coffee shop ended up closing.

Setting aside the economic downturn suffered during construction, I am wondering if anyone has studied the economic impacts on businesses of roundabouts versus traffic signals.  I haven't come across such a study. 

I occasionally cite research done by Iowa State that points to the economic impacts of limiting driveways.  It is helpful to have research to fall back on instead of arguing about opinions.  I would like to have research to cite on the roundabout/traffic signal economic debate.  Any academics out there that can take this up?

In Lane Zig-Zag Markings

There has been some press lately about experimental zig-zag lines being painted on roads in Virginia.  The story made it onto a popular morning show in the Twin Cities yesterday.  The Virginia DOT is studying the affects of the zig-zags lines in the middle of the through lanes to see if they improve safety at pedestrian crossings by making them more visible.  They are being used at locations that already have all of the standard paint and signs in place.

The DOT is doing a scientific, before/after study to see if the zig-zags have a positive safety impact.  I am reserving judgment until the study is done.

Thanks to Randy Dittberner of the Virginia DOT for the following pictures.  The first picture is of Sterling Boulevard and was taken today right after installation.  The second picture is from the well publicized Belmont Ridge site.

Mn/DOT Metro District Sign Inventory - TDI on Selected Team

Congratulations to our partners SRF Consulting Group and Facet Technologies for being selected to inventory the signs along Mn/DOT's Metro District roads.  This project will involve building a database for the signs along approximately 1,300 miles of state jurisdiction roads in the Twin Cities.  Mn/DOT estimated there may be up to 500,000 signs that need to be logged!

The majority of the sign data will be collected by Facet using their video logging system.  We'll be assisting in the manual data collection of sign attributes.  SRF Consulting is the prime consultant and will be managing the project. 

Mileage Based Tax in Oregon

From Micah Heckman of Lancaster Engineering in Portland, Oregon

(Thanks Micah) -

I attended a luncheon yesterday in which the presentation focused on Oregon's efforts to implement a mileage tax.  The presentation was very informative and was well prepared.  I don’t have a handout of the slides used in the presentation but here is a quick overview based on a coworker’s and my recollection of the presentation.

Oregon has completed a pilot program in which 20 vehicles were equipped with a GPS unit that determined the mileage driven by that vehicle.  The speaker addressed concerns that the unit could be used to track the vehicle by noting the unit only receives data from a satellite and does not send any information.  The GPS receiver is set up in such a way that the State of Oregon is one zone and anywhere out of the State is a second zone.  Therefore, drivers would only be taxed for miles driven within the State.  In the pilot program they also programmed the receivers to record the number of miles driven during rush hour which could be used for congestion pricing.  

The speaker also addressed the issue of “winners” and “losers”, “winners” being those individuals that currently drive inefficient vehicles and “losers” being those individuals that currently drive fuel-efficient vehicles.  In order to address this issue, the speaker mentioned that the mileage tax does not necessarily need to be a flat rate.  An adjustment factor could be used for vehicles based on their fuel-efficiency.  

Overall, the pilot program was a success.  One of the major drawbacks is the difficulty with retrofitting the device.  Therefore, if the program were adopted, it may only be implemented for new vehicles while older vehicles are still subject to the gas tax.  Out-of-state drivers would also be subject to gas tax.  The speaker did stress that the implementation would be much smoother if it were implemented Nationwide.  Based on the work that has been done and what needs to be done, a timeline of 15 to 20 years before implementation is a realistic expectation.

I have included a link to ODOT’s webpage which includes some information on the pilot program as well as a final report.  I have not had time to review the report but hope to find time soon.  It sounds like Minnesota is the next State ready for a pilot program so hopefully they can also gain some valuable knowledge on the subject.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/RUFPP/mileage.shtml

 

Use Big Brother to Raise $$$ from Uninsured Motorists?

Wired has a recent article about a company that has put together a national database of uninsured motorists.  All states require motorists to carry insurance.  Thirteen states require insurance to be tied to license plates.  The article says one in six motorists on the road won't have insurance next year.

We have automated (machine vision) systems that can snap photos of every license plate and discern the license plate number in a fraction of a second.  A logical next step would be to have the system do a lookup of license plates against the database of uninsured motorists.  Right now there is a system set up in the I-394 toll lane that lets the police know if a vehicle has a toll paying transponder or not.  We could use a similar system to identify uninsured motorists. 

We have to be creative in raising revenues in the new economy!