With ATAC Help, Travel Demand Model Helps Smooth F-M Traffic Flow
Future traffic flow will be improved and current detours and delays would be worse if not for the efforts of ATAC. Since the fall of 2001, ATAC specialists have been supporting the Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments' (F-M Metro COG) planning efforts with a travel demand model, a complex computerized model that predicts the future demand placed onto the roadway system due to changes in socio-economic and land use characteristics. Planners use the model to examine "what if" questions to set priorities for building or upgrading streets. "The model allows planners to evaluate proposed changes in the transportation infrastructure before they are implemented," explains Jerilyn Swenson. For example, the model can be used to look at lane closures during construction, street widening or the addition of turn lanes, and view how it impacts the transportation system. "The model helps communities understand their transportation problems and develop successful strategies for dealing with those problems," Swenson says. ATAC worked with local planners to evaluate the previous F-M Metro COG's model and developed a list of improvements to address its limitations. The old model could use only a limited number of files for input and was difficult to customize for growth and changes in area. ATAC researchers evaluated several commercially-available modeling programs and choose the best one to incorporate into the updated Fargo-Moorhead travel demand model. "The current model is much more reflective of the growth in population and economic activity that we're seeing in the area," Swenson says. The model includes more than 375 traffic analysis zones - areas denoted by land use such as residential, commercial, retail, industrial, etc. - and incorporated the ability to estimate the number of trips between those zones. A peer review was conducted by consultants hired by the F-M Metro COG to evaluate the new model and found it to be well ahead of models used by similar sized cities. They also made suggestions on how the new model could be improved. ATAC specialists integrated those changes into the current F-M Metro COG's travel demand model. The model is currently being used to guide long- and short-range transportation planning in the four cities within the F-M Metro COG. Planners use it to help identify and prioritize transportation improvements in the area and examine policy changes and their effect on the transportation system. The model can also help identify areas of public concern and assess environmental and economic impacts of current traffic patterns on planned changes. It can also be used to conduct smaller, more detailed analysis of specific areas. Researchers are looking at how to improve traffic flow on 52nd Avenue in South Fargo as the city expands south. The model can also be used to estimate the extra delay or cost impeded to motorists from construction. Those estimates can be used to set contractor incentives or disincentives for the project. |
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Rapid growth often comes with growing pains. That's been the case in the Fargo-Moorhead area as planners work to develop a transportation system to support increased mobility needs and sustain economic development in the area.