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Traffic Operations
Current Projects

Small Urban and Rural Transportation Operations Coalition (SURTOC)
Dates:July 2005 - December 2007
Clients:Traffic engineers and system operators in small urban and rural areas across the US
Description:The purpose of this initiative is to create a comprehensive transportation operations resource for professionals in small urban and rural communities to obtain training; access technical information and tools; and share ideas, solutions, and expertise with their peers.
Deliverables:
  1. A national steering committee
  2. A document describing small urban and rural areas transportation operations
  3. A dedicated web page that serves as a resource for transportation operations in small urban and rural areas
Contact:Ayman - ayman@atacenter.org
More Info:www.surtoc.org
Traffic Operations Field Test
Dates:October 2005 - Ongoing
Clients:City of Fargo, traffic engineers and researchers
Description:The Advanced Traffic Analysis Center (ATAC) of North Dakota State University is partnering with the City of Fargo on developing a traffic signal control field test bed to research, evaluate, and develop methods to improve traffic signal operations. Various detection strategies (placement and function) and traffic controller operations will be evaluated to determine their effects on intersection operation in terms of traffic delay. In addition, traffic data will be collected continuously to determine temporal changes during typical and non-typical (special events) traffic conditions.
Deliverables:
  1. Installation of five image processing sensors
  2. Communications to connect City of Fargo's fiber optic network with NDSU
  3. Traffic data archival warehouse at ATAC
Contact:Shawn - shawn@atacenter.org
More Info:N/A
North Dakota Work Zone Safety and Mobility
Dates:July 2005 - December 2007
Clients:North Dakota Department of Transportation
Project Partners:Associated General Contractors of North Dakota
Border States Paving
Federal Highway Administration
North Dakota Highway Patrol
United Rentals Highway Technologies
Description:The purpose of this project is to enhance safety and traffic operations in highway work zones through: 1) effective management and control strategies; 2) applications of advanced technologies (ITS); 3) accumulating work zone performance data to support decisions making; and 4) successful public awareness and outreach.
Deliverables:
  1. Baseline traffic performance data for a case study work zone
  2. Report:
    1. Review of NDDOT work zone traffic management
    2. Analysis of NDDOT work zone incident response
    3. Evaluation of effective ITS technologies
  3. Recommendations for NDDOT work zone traffic management guidelines
Contact:Ayman - ayman@atacenter.org
More Info:N/A
North Dakota Traffic Operations Roundtable
Dates:December 2005 - Ongoing
Clients:Traffic Engineers - North Dakota and the Region
Description:The vision of this effort is to solidify ATAC's support to traffic engineers across North Dakota and the region. The roundtable allows peers to share ideas, identify critical issues, provide experiences, and guide ATAC's traffic operations activities. It is further envisioned that this forum will facilitate inter-jurisdictional traffic operations within the larger urban areas in North Dakota by providing a resource which supports the design, operation, and maintenance of traffic control systems.
Deliverables:
  1. Provide a forum for promoting traffic operations through effective exchange of information, ideas, and experiences;
  2. Create/synthesize a knowledge-base of best practices accessible to potential users;
  3. Provide guidance to ATAC's traffic operations focus area to help better serve North Dakota and the region; and
  4. Develop and coordinate training opportunities.
Contact:Shawn - shawn@atacenter.org
More Info:North Dakota Traffic Operations Roundtable (coming soon)
VISSIM Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation Using A NEMA TS2 Interface
Dates:2001-Present
Clients:N/A
Description:Description Development of hardware-in-the-loop simulation using the VISSIM traffic simulation software and EAGLE EPAC300 traffic controllers. A Controller Interface Device is being developed to allow testing of traffic controllers or other transportation-related logic devices before installation in the field (low priority preemption, coordination recovery methods, emergency vehicle preemption, etc.)
Deliverables:Controller Interface Device (CID)
Contact:Shawn - shawn@atacenter.org or
Andrew - andrew.paulsen@ndsu.edu
More Info:www.atacenter.org/cid/
VISSeed for VISSIM
Dates:2003-Present
Clients:N/A
Description:VISSeed is a utility that was developed by ATAC and is used with VISSIM to conduct multiple simulation runs of a scenario with different random number seeds. VISSeed will simulate multiple runs of a simulation scenario and collect all the necessary output files. It allows users to start batches of simulations that can be run overnight saving time and money.
Deliverables:VISSeed software
Contact:Shawn - shawn@atacenter.org or
Mohammad - m.smadi@ndsu.edu
More Info:www.atacenter.org/software/visseed.php
Permissive Period Calculator (PPC)
Dates:2004-Present
Clients:N/A
Description:The Permissive Period Calculator (PPC) is a utility developed by ATAC to perform permissive period and force-off calculations. The program provides the output values and graphical representation of the permissive windows. These values may be entered into traffic signal controllers as well as traffic simulation models.
Deliverables:PPC software
Contact:Shawn - shawn@atacenter.org
More Info:www.atacenter.org/software/permissive.php