The Denver Post reports that RTD is testing Automated Train Stopping technology on its light rail corridors, part of the response to a fatal rail transit crash in Los Angeles.
The system sounds an alarm inside the operator’s cab and begins braking if the train passes a red signal along the tracks.
The east portals of the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel on Interstate 70.
Blowing snow and resulting traffic backups on Interstate 70 on Saturday prompted seven separate stoppages totaling three hours at the westbound entrance to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnels under the Continental Divide.
It brought an avalanche of driver complaints and a review by the Colorado Department of Transportation of the messages it puts on its electronic signs.
But don’t expect the practice of halting traffic to end. It’s all about your safety.
“It’s very much to assure ourselves that we can respond to an emergency in there,” said Mike Salamon, CDOT’s superintendent at the tunnel. The 1.7-mile, two-lane bores have no shoulders and no way for emergency vehicles to maneuver around stopped cars. “How could anybody ever explain watching a ski bus burn in there and we couldn’t get to it? When traffic starts to fill up to about half the tunnel, we shut it down.”
AASHTO Press Release
America’s Top Ten Transportation Topics for 2010
(Washington, D.C.) — As America enters a new decade, what will be the buzz about transportation? Clearly a safe, efficient, and viable transportation network should be at the forefront of issues facing policymakers at all levels of government and in all areas of our society in the coming months.
“In the year 2010, we’ll be seeing more job-creating construction zones on our highways, but we will still need a long-term solution to address everything from fixing potholes to making needed repairs to our aging infrastructure,” said Larry “Butch” Brown, president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation. “Even more critically for the long-term health of this nation, 2010 must also be about how smart we become at enabling goods and products to get from one point to another with speed and efficiency.”
Looking ahead, AASHTO has developed a list of the top ten transportation topics that it forecasts will be part of the national conversation in 2010 – in the media, in government and around the dinner table.
1) Adopting a long-term transportation funding bill
The current legislation that establishes funding levels and policy priorities for highways and transit expired on September 30, 2009. Since then, there have been four extensions – the most current being a short-term surface transportation authorization that will allow state departments of transportation to continue to use federal funds for highway, transit, and other projects until Feb. 28. Stop-gap extensions create difficulties for state departments of transportation since they cannot make long-term plans and commitments for more ambitious projects. In addition, without action by the Congress by March 1, state DOTs will lose $12 billion in 2010 for their highway programs. State DOTs need program continuity and stability through an extension of at least a year to adequately plan, execute and manage transportation capital programs.
2) Adopting a New Jobs Creation bill
The Senate is expected to begin debate on a jobs creation bill in mid-January. The House bill, Jobs for Main Street Act, contains several important transportation provisions including an extension of surface transportation authorization through Sept. 30, 2010. Funding would include $27.5 billion for highways and $8.4 billion for mass transit; Amtrak would receive $800 million while airports would get $500 million and shipyards $100 million. States have identified more than 9,500 ready-to-go projects that can fund projects quickly and put people to work. A jobs bill will enable states to build on last year’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) projects and keep the momentum going.
3) Deterring Distracted Driving
Nearly 6,000 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes involving some form of driver distraction during 2008. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia prohibit drivers from text messaging while driving; 12 of those laws passed in 2009. Florida and Kentucky have already pre-filed texting ban bills for the 2010 legislative session, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. President Obama has banned texting by federal government employees while on official business or using government property and AASHTO has passed a resolution encouraging employers and state departments of transportation to enact similar bans. The year ahead will offer more public information campaigns and driver education, more sanctions and additional research to determine the extent of the problem, whether hands-free devices are an effective solution, and whether effective enforcement strategies can be developed and/or implemented. See http://safety.transportation.org for information.
4) Ensuring Safer Roads
In Spring 2010, AASHTO will publish the Highway Safety Manual. This manual will assist highway agencies as they consider improvements to existing roadways or as they are planning, designing, or constructing new roadways. AASHTO is working with the Federal Highway Administration and the Transportation Research Board to develop training, information sessions and other implementation tools that will be made available to states and others in the highway industry. AASHTO’s goal: cut today’s 38,000 highway fatalities 50 percent in 20 years.
5) Moving on High-Speed Rail Grants
Early in 2010, a new era in U.S. intercity passenger rail service will be launched with the announcement of $8 billion in ARRA grants for state projects to initiate or improve high-speed and intercity passenger rail service. Later in the year an additional $2.5 billion will be awarded through the State Capital Grants Program of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act to carry out President Obama’s strategy for passenger rail. http://www.aashtojournal.org/Pages/110609transit.aspx
6) Taking Action to Address Climate Change
With autos and light-duty trucks contributing approximately 17 percent of the greenhouse gases (GHG) in the United States, state and local governments are developing climate change action plans and looking at the best ways to reduce emissions through technology, research, smarter travel, better cars and fuels, and improved efficiency and operation of our roads. In the year ahead, Congress will address this issue in both climate change and transportation authorization legislation. AASHTO’s Climate Change Steering Committee is working to provide technical expertise and assistance to state DOTs to reduce GHG emissions. http://realsolutions.transportation.org/Pages/default.aspx
7) Responding to Increased Congestion Due to Capacity Issues
In 2008, high gas prices drove thousands of commuters from their cars and onto buses, subways and other transit options. As gas prices moderated, however, many of these riders went back to their vehicles. In fact, despite the economic downturn, 64 of the 100 most populated cities saw increased congestion in the first six months of 2009. This congestion will only continue to worsen as more people move to metropolitan areas and little is done to increase the capacity of the overall transportation system. In early 2010, AASHTO will issue a new report that outlines a four-point plan to address the urban mobility challenge. Other reports on the transportation needs of rural and underserved areas as well as freight will follow.
Adopting Social Media to Provide the Latest Traffic and Travel Information
Eighty percent of state departments of transportation are now using Twitter as well as an array of other “social media” to release information on traffic incidents, road closings, weather emergencies and other transportation-related information. Thousands of travelers have signed up to use this service. In Mississippi, Twitter sites have been set up to guide drivers through hurricane evacuations. Other media being accessed by states to educate their publics include Facebook, weekly news webchannels, podcasts and RSS feeds to spread their message. States are encouraging the use of these media “before they go” to avoid distracted driving.
9) Enhancing Safety through Roadway Improvements
On two-lane rural roads and major highways, rumble strips are now being installed to warn drivers when their vehicles start to leave the travel lane. On divided highways, cable median barriers are being installed to prevent fatal crashes in which vehicles run off the road into the median and cross over into oncoming traffic. With more than half of the highway fatalities occurring on rural roads, highway agencies are focusing on installing these types of lower-cost treatments to reduce these crashes. As additional studies are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of these treatments, they will be installed on more roads across the country.
10) Creating more livable communities
The Administration has made livable communities a key aspect of their agenda. In June of 2009, EPA, HUD and USDOT entered into a Sustainable Communities Partnership to help improve access to affordable housing, provide more transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment in communities nationwide. Efforts by state DOTs in the coming year will include building transportation enhancement projects such as bikeways, pedestrian walkways, historic restoration and beautification projects; improving metropolitan mobility; ensuring more transit services are available in rural areas and to serve aging populations; and adding capacity to our transportation network to reduce congestion and the amount of time commuters, truckers and other drivers are stuck in traffic and so have more time with their families.
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The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is the “Voice of Transportation” representing State Departments of Transportation in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. AASHTO is a nonprofit, nonpartisan association serving as a catalyst for excellence in transportation.
The Glenwood Springs Post-Independent reports that the new configuration of the Glenwood Springs 116 interchange seems to be moving traffic along more efficiently, but that some motorists are having a hard time adjusting to some of the newly placed traffic signals.
More specifically, the one traffic signal just after the right-hand turn from Sixth Street onto the Grand Avenue Bridge. The past configuration had a single traffic turn lane where motorists did not have to stop before turning onto the bridge.
However, the new configuration includes a red-arrow traffic light that requires traffic to stop at the turn. It’s that one aspect that is confusing some motorists, and has caused a few accidents.
Go to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent to see the entire article.
View Larger Map
Google Maps Street View shows northbound I-25 approaching Sixth Avenue, the No. 1 accident location in the city in November.
The Valley Highway is the pits for drivers and accidents.
Eight of the Top 10 accident locations in Denver for November were on the busiest freeway through the city – Interstate 25, known colloquially as the Valley Highway, it’s name when it was built in the 1950s.
In fact, the five most frequent accident spots on I-25 have been a constant presence on the list each month this year, and I-25 commuters should be no strangers to them – The Mousetrap, 20th Street, Sixth Avenue, Alameda Avenue and Santa Fe Drive.
USA Today reports that the busy San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, closed twice this fall by construction glitches, is giving commuters a new worry: a curvy temporary section plagued by more than 50 accidents, one of them fatal, since opening two months ago.
The California Department of Transportation blames excessive speed by drivers and defends the design of its new S-shaped section, which allows cars to bypass workers rebuilding the eastern end of the 8-mile-long bridge.
“The alignment that we have in there is the best we could do, given our constraints,” department spokesman Bart Ney said.
Go to USA Today to see the entire article.
CDOT Press Release
By 5 p.m. today, November 16th, the Colorado Department of Transportation will close the 104th Avenue (CO 44) bridge over the South Platte River, which is between Colorado Boulevard and US 85, due to safety concerns regarding the condition of the bridge.
“In a recent inspection, we discovered that much of the concrete has deteriorated around the pier caps and girders along one span of the bridge,” said CDOT bridge engineer Mark Leonard. “For the safety of the traveling public, we are closing the bridge to all traffic until we can make the appropriate repairs, which will include removing the deteriorated concrete and pouring new concrete to stabilize the bridge span.”
Until the repairs are made, 104th Avenue will be closed between Colorado Boulevard and US 85. Local traffic will be allowed beyond the closure point up to the bridge, but will not be allowed to cross the bridge over the South Platte River. Motorists will be detoured along Colorado Boulevard or US 85 and I-76 to 88th Avenue.
The bridge repairs are expected to begin in approximately three weeks once CDOT has a contractor on board. The repairs could take up to two weeks to complete, but more information will be available once work begins.
When heavy trucks rumble across the Burlington-Bristol Bridge, new sensors detect the stresses they put on the 2,300-foot span and instantly transmit the information to computers in Philadelphia, reports the Philadelphia inquirer.
Drexel University researchers in the city then use the stream of data to develop computer models that display the bridge’s condition and its potential problems.
Such measures, known to engineers as structural health monitoring, are commonly done for a limited period and confined to academic research. But Drexel and its partner, the Burlington County Bridge Commission, plan to use the system continuously to help the agency better allocate its resources for bridge maintenance.
View Colorado’s Poor-Rated State Highway Bridges in a larger map
The Great Depression was a time of significant road building meant to get Americans back to work as well as back on the road, and out on the eastern plains of Colorado a number of highway bridges were erected. At least six of them on CO 96 in Crowley and Kiowa counties were made of wood.
Many of these old bridges remain in service today. Six of the 17 bridges along CO 96 as it wends its way toward Kansas through the two rural counties were in place in the 1930s.
But early next year along this lengthy, lonesome and windblown stretch of two-lane road, four wooden bridges will be replaced with funds now being collected from Colorado automobile owners under the new FASTER bill.
Save for a terrible event a year and a half ago, one other Depression-era wooden bridge on CO 96 would have been on the list. It was destroyed when a wildfire swept eastward along the highway toward the town of Ordway and burned its wooden substructure, collapsing the 47-foot span into the Numa Drain Canal. Two firefighters died enroute to defend Ordway when their truck plunged through the smoke and into the canal.
A camera crew was interviewing a Tennessee Department of Transportation supervisor at the scene of a rockslide cleanup on US 64 when more of the mountain came down on the road. No one was injured. You can see the sudden and devastating impact of a slide in this rare video. Colorado’s highway crews work year around trying to stabilize loose rock areas.
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