Techniques for Effective Highway Construction Projects in Congested Urban Areas (2011)

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31 One attribute of constructing projects in urban corridors is that often multiple modes are present in the same or proximate ROW. This can be a benefit when the other modes siphon off vehicles or riders and relieve pressure on the rest of the corridor. On the other hand, the presence of other modes can complicate work zones, traffic control, productivity, costs, and schedules. Transportation agencies participating in the survey reported that 69% of their projects either “Always,” “Very Often,” or “Often” have other modes present in the project ROW. This frequency demands action to address such unique challenges. Figure 23 reflects these data and other findings for this question. If other modes are present in the same corridor, then agen- cies will most likely have to address specific issues during construction. Among these are: • Geometric conflicts • Operational issues during construction • Operational issues after construction is completed • Construction impacts • Dealing with multiple agencies or organizations • Budgetary constraints present in other agencies or orga- nizations. What measures are taken to address the operations of these other modes before construction begins is important. Figure 24 shows how the agencies responded. Note the four most commonly used measures are: • Coordination with other modes during the engineering design process (87%). • Coordination with other modes during the planning process (83%). • Project-specific meetings/committees with transit agen- cies (83%). • Project-specific meetings/committees with bicycle and pedestrian groups (65%). Early coordination during the planning and design phases is a strategy that most agencies use to address the impacts of sharing the ROW with other modes when improving urban corridors. If other modes are present in the ROW or adjacent to the urban corridor under construction then leveraging that prox- imity to carry some traffic would appear to be a good idea. Certainly, much depends on the nature of the project, the alternative modes that exist, operational issues, the flexibil- ity of the alternate modes to adjust services to accommodate construction changes in the corridor, and various public policy issues such as available funding. Ultimately, in spite of the apparent logic in leveraging multiple modes in a single corridor, it actually does not happen very often, as shown in Figure 25. Only 9% of the responding agencies reported that diverting volume to other modes was effective, whereas the majority only found some effectiveness in doing so. The “Never” and “Sometimes” responses were provided 69% of the time, reflecting a low level of reliance on other modes to accom- modate mobility needs during construction. Managing traffic through an urban project is a high priority for transportation agencies. This being the case, if agencies found value in using the other modes to help them divert traffic to alleviate congestion then they would do so more aggressively. Part of the reason this may be an issue is the relatively low level of ridership or usage that transit, pedes- trian, and bicycle modes have in urban corridors in the first place. For example, if current ridership on transit in a corri- dor is 2% to 3% of all users, and this volume doubles during construction, the resulting numbers are still very small and barely relevant to the overall travel through the corridor. Of note is that even with this limited impact on urban con- struction projects the agencies still overwhelmingly identified coordination with other modes before and during construction as important activities they engage in. CHAPTER EIGHT MULTI-MODAL

32 FIGURE 23 Frequency of other transportation modes present in projects (see Question 58). 0 0 0 4 30 39 65 83 83 87 No meaningful coordination No coordination is necessary Our agency uses in-house staff who know about the.. Other Permanent ongoing meetings/committees with bi.. Permanent ongoing meetings/committees with transit agencies Project specific meetings/committees with bicycle and pedestrian groups Project specific meetings/committees with transit agencies Coordination with other modes during the planning process Coordination with the other modes during the engineering design process 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 FIGURE 24 Measures taken to address other modes prior to construction (see Question 59). (Owing to multiple choices percentages do not equal 100%.) FIGURE 25 Reliance on other modes for assistance (see Question 60).