SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- Establishing Monitoring Programs for Travel Time Reliability
- Notice Date
- 7/29/2008
- Notice Type
- Combined Synopsis/Solicitation
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- The National Academies, Transportation Research Board, Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2), 500 Fifth Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
- ZIP Code
- 20001
- Solicitation Number
- SHRP2L02
- Archive Date
- 9/24/2008
- Point of Contact
- William Hyman,, Phone: 202-334-1914, Stephen Andrle,, Phone: 202-334-2810
- E-Mail Address
-
whyman@nas.edu, sandrle@nas.edu
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SHRP 2 REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Focus Area: Reliability Project Number: L02 Project Title: Establishing Monitoring Programs for Travel Time Reliability Date Posted: July 29, 2008 SHRP 2 Background To address the challenges of moving people and goods efficiently and safely on the nation's highways, Congress has created the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP 2). SHRP 2 is a targeted, short-term research program carried out through competitively awarded contracts to qualified researchers in the academic, private, and public sectors. SHRP 2 addresses four strategic focus areas: the role of human behavior in highway safety (Safety); rapid highway renewal (Renewal); congestion reduction through improved travel time reliability (Reliability); and transportation planning that better integrates community, economic, and environmental considerations into new highway capacity (Capacity). Under current legislative provisions, SHRP 2 will receive approximately $150 million with a total program duration of 7 years. Reliability Focus Area The overall goal of the SHRP 2 Reliability program is to reduce congestion through incident reduction, management, response, and mitigation. Achieving this goal would significantly improve travel time reliability for many types of person and freight trips on the nation's highways. Travel time reliability refers to how travel time varies over time and the impacts of this variance on highway users. In other words, for repeated travel or vehicles making similar trips, there is an underlying distribution of travel time for a particular type of trip within a specific time period between two points. Individual travelers respond differently to the factors and uncertainties associated with the travel time. So do those involved in freight transportation. For important trips such as a trip to the doctor or a just-in-time freight delivery, the driver (or possibly the freight dispatcher) will build extra time into the trip to ensure arrival within a time window with a high probability, for example 19 out 20 times (95% of the time). A considerable literature is evolving regarding performance measures of travel time reliability. For example, see the resources on travel time reliability available at the Federal Highway Administration's Operations website: http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/tt_reliability/TTR_Report.htm#Whatmeasures According to previous research, seven major factors account for approximately half of all traffic delay, and therefore, a great deal of the uncertainty associated with travel time: (1) traffic incidents, (2) work zones, (3) weather (4) special events, (5) traffic control devices, (6) fluctuations in demand, and (7) inadequate base capacity. These factors do not always affect travel time reliability separately. They often interact, which increases the challenge of reducing the uncertainty of travel time that drivers experience. Project Background Road users accept, although reluctantly, the everyday congestion inadequate road capacity causes and adjust their departure times accordingly to arrive at their destination on time. Road users are less tolerant of unexpected delays because of the consequences of late arrival. Road agencies and authorities have an interest, and responsibility to address the factors that cause unreliable travel. As a result, to an increasing degree, they are seeking to implement measures that would improve travel time reliability to support on-time arrival of individual travelers as well as freight and transit movements. Traffic monitoring systems are needed that can produce data on the variability (reliability) of travel time for passenger and freight movement, for different trip purposes, in peak and off-peak periods, and in different geographic and climatic settings with fundamentally different types of highway networks. This information is necessary for real-time operations of the highway system-to reduce non-recurring congestion, improve travel time reliability, and improve mobility in general. Also, archived travel time data, when transformed into travel time reliability measures, is valuable for planning, programming, and other purposes including research. Furthermore, related data on incidents, weather, and so on help explain the uncertainty associated with travel time and are critical for many types of travel time reliability analysis and model development. All state departments of transportation, most other road authorities, and some private entities have maintained traffic data collection programs for many years. These organizations have primarily relied on automated traffic recorders. However, these programs have generally supported highway planning and design or enforcement of regulations and have not been used on a regular basis to assess or research techniques or activities designed to improve travel time reliability. More recently, a large number of newer traffic data collection technologies have been put to use within the public and private sectors across the United States, including: inductive loops, closed circuit television with pattern recognition (e.g. license plate readers), inductive signature identification, toll tag readers, embedded wireless magnetometers, microwave radar, electromagnetic detectors, Global Positioning System receivers, cellular telephones, and other radio-based technologies. While not every detector technology provides speed and travel time determination capabilities, many of these technologies can provide data related to travel time reliability. The selection and deployment of specific technologies requires a system engineering process; the appropriate technology varies depending on climate, roadway type, physical characteristics of the roadway network, budget, and other factors. The diversity of technologies and operational environments is an important consideration for this research project. Thus, substantial experience exists regarding the design and implementation of traffic monitoring systems for both real-time applications (e.g. freeway traffic management) and more traditional statewide traffic monitoring programs. One of the key issues for this research is to determine the adaptability of these systems to gather information on travel time reliability for real-time operations management and for post hoc use of archived (historical) data, possibly augmented by special data collection programs, in other levels of decision making. There are other key issues regarding the handling of data useful for improving travel time reliability, whether for real-time operations or other purposes. These include quality control, algorithm development, and protection of privacy. Data storage, back-up, and security are important technical and institutional issues resulting from the very large amount of data accumulated by travel time reliability monitoring systems. As noted, among the seven primary factors that affect travel time reliability are incidents, weather, work zones, and variations in demand. Combining travel time data with data on the other (explanatory) variables is important in the design of a reliability monitoring system. The design of a travel time reliability monitoring system requires the use of statistics to develop a sampling plan for locating traffic detectors and collecting travel time data-this includes determining appropriate geographic and time scales. Statistical methods also provide insight regarding the selection, validation, and application of appropriate measures of travel time reliability, as well as for estimating models of travel time reliability that reflect key factors such as weather. Other issues include how to impute travel time data collected on one segment to adjacent segments or to nearby links and how to aggregate data from specific locations and events to higher levels such as corridors, regions, or even an entire state. Finally, a key focus in travel time reliability from the road user perspective (demand side) is the net effect on a user's trip through the network, i.e. on travel from origin to destination. Therefore, an exclusive focus on freeway segments is insufficient to meet this critical aspect of a travel time reliability monitoring program. Objective The objective of this project is to develop system designs for programs to monitor travel time reliability and to prepare a guidebook that practitioners and others can use to design, build, operate, and maintain such systems. The focus of this project is on travel time reliability, but it is important to be aware that traffic detectors acquire data not directly related to travel time reliability including operations, pavement design, safety analysis, and security. The data from the monitoring system(s) developed in this project-from both public and private sources-should include, wherever cost-effective, information on the seven sources of non-recurring congestion. Data from the travel time reliability monitoring system(s) can then be used to construct performance measures or to perform various analyses useful for real-time operations management as well as policy, planning, and programming, especially exploring tradeoffs between capital and operations expenditures. The guidebook must be more than just a compilation of existing processes and technologies, and it must address not just freeways but other types of roads, such as toll roads and urban arterials. (See Special Note 1) Phase I - System Design Needs: Define User and Functional Requirements for Travel Time Reliability Monitoring Systems Task 1: Inventory and assess existing traffic monitoring systems capable of generating distributions of travel time and incidence of non-recurring congestion. This task should include a review of the ways reliability data is currently being collected by transportation agencies and operators, how such information is being disseminated to roadway system users, and how it is being used for operational, tactical, and strategic decision making (or why this is not occurring). Include a literature review and other interactive ways (e.g. interviews) to gather information from those knowledgeable about the systems. This task shall produce a summary of advantages and disadvantages of existing systems, lessons learned, institutional and technical issues, and gaps. Include information available from other SHRP 2 Reliability projects (See Special Note 2). Task 2: Identify user needs (public sector, private sector, road users) that are to be met through a reliability monitoring program. Address user needs both with respect to real-time systems operations and management and for such activities as policy, planning, programming, and budgeting. This task should identify opportunities at the operational, tactical, and strategic levels for enhanced reliability information to improve agency and private-sector decision making, guide resource allocation, and more efficiently use the roadway system. Task 3: Characterize user needs identified in Task 2 with respect to the full range of operating, technical, and data environments along the dimensions listed below. Identify at least five combinations that are most representative of the typical environments encountered on roadways in the United States. (For example, one of these environments might be two-lane rural highway with little or no equipment for collecting real-time data). Also identify any less common operational scenarios that merit special consideration. Access controlled corridors (e.g. freeways): • Urban • Data collection by segment • Road-based data collection • Legacy monitoring systems • Real-time data • Person travel • Public systems Corridors without access control (e.g. signalized arterials): • Rural • Data collection for origins and destinations • Vehicle-based data collection • New monitoring systems (in new locations and/or using new technology) • Archived data • Freight Travel • Private systems and public/private partnerships Task 4: Define Functional Requirements.The contractor must fully specify the functional requirements for both real-time and archival travel time reliability monitoring systems. The process of defining functional requirements must include input from relevant stakeholders through focus groups or other suitable techniques. Functional requirements to be considered include but are not limited to the following: • Builds on existing (legacy) and emerging detection technology and monitoring systems. Focuses on data and performance measures relevant to travel time reliability while recognizing broader or different objectives of existing traffic monitoring systems such as mobility and asset management. • Provides a means to communicate data and performance regarding travel time reliability collected from traffic detectors at specific locations to various users of the monitoring system(s). • Uses public and private sources of data as appropriate. • Serves traffic monitoring needs of the public and, to the extent practical, the private sector. • Stores travel time and other data concerning reliability (e.g. data on the seven sources of non-recurring congestion) in a data base in accordance with a metadata standard. • Provides for data transfer into the system and dissemination to users from the system. • Uses appropriate telecommunications. • Builds on the efforts underway at FHWA regarding SAFETEA-LU Section 1201 that are aimed at developing a real-time information management structure for the National Highway System and other major arterials in metropolitan areas as well as transit systems. • Addresses freight and person trips. • Supports computation and estimation of travel time reliability measures, including measures for individual roadway segments, roadway corridors, and key origin-destination pairs. • Supports the compilation of data suitable for development, testing, and refinement of travel time reliability prediction algorithms for both real time and static (e.g. planning) applications. • Provides a means to impute travel time and travel time reliability information and performance measures to areas where traffic data is not available. • Supports aggregation of localized travel time reliability to corridors, subsystems, and systems. • Provides a foundation for agencies/operators to monitor long- and short-term changes in the reliability performance of their roadway systems, and possibly compare them with peers. • Provides a means for real-time monitoring of equipment malfunction. Task 5: Prepare the Phase I Report. Thoroughly document the work performed under Tasks 1 through 4. Submit a Draft Phase I Report for review. Within 30 days SHRP 2 will provide comments. Prepare a Final Phase I report that responds to the comments of SHRP 2. The contractor may not proceed with work on Phase II without approval of SHRP 2. Phase II - System Design Completion and Guidebook Preparation In this phase, the contractor will complete the system design and develop a guidebook describing the structure and possible components of a travel time reliability measurement system that meets the functional requirements and addresses the five most representative scenarios identified in Phase I. Task 6: Develop travel time sampling and data acquisition plans, including how to fill gaps and aggregate to higher level networks, for: (a) Real-time operations (b) Archival and/or special-purpose data useful for planning, programming, prediction modeling, performance measurement, and similar purposes (c) Data necessary to account for the seven sources of travel time variability that affect travel time data Task 7: Design monitoring systems that provide the ability to calculate performance measures related to travel time reliability and account for the seven sources that influence travel time reliability and the five or more operating, technical, and data environments identified in Task 2 for both of the following: (a) Real-time operations (b) Uses of archival data. Task 8: Assess the design tradeoffs for real-time versus archived travel time data collection systems. At a minimum, consider operations management, economic (including lifecycle costs), technical, analytical, and institutional factors as well as the ability to satisfy functional requirements. Consider the methods and implications of converting sources of archived data (e.g. from automated traffic recorders) to real-time data. Address issues related to computation or imputation of data for environments where the density of data collection devices is low. Address equipment reliability issues. Task 9: Prepare a Draft Phase II Report that fully documents the results of Tasks 6 through 8. The Draft Phase II Report documents the completion of the design work and includes a detailed work plan, budget, and schedule for Phase III. Also, prepare and submit to SHRP 2 a Draft Unvalidated Guidebook on Monitoring System(s) for Travel Time Reliability. Within 30 days of receipt of the Draft Phase II Report and the Draft Unvalidated Guidebook, SHRP 2 will provide comments to the contractor. Prepare and submit the Final Phase II Report and the Final Unvalidated Guidebook within 60 days of receipt of the SHRP 2 comments. Work on Phase III may not proceed without approval of SHRP 2. Phase III - Validate Monitoring Programs The contractor shall validate the procedures developed in the guidebook. At a minimum, the contractor shall demonstrate and/or validate a travel time reliability monitoring system for the following types of areas: • Areas where no data are currently being collected • Areas where there are some existing sources of travel time and other relevant data but the travel time data, in particular, are not fully representative of the highway network, sub-network, or corridor • Areas where high density of travel time data collection is occurring, and selected additional relevant data is available (See Special Note 3) The contractor shall report on implementation issues: technical, analytical, economic, and institutional. Validate the monitoring program(s) using computer simulation and/or field tests. Where field tests are conducted, assess the degree to which the monitoring program(s) provide information that accurately reflects field conditions and, particularly, travel times. The proposer is being offered substantial flexibility regarding how to approach Phase III. The proposer should tailor the scope and focus of the travel time reliability monitoring system to be implemented and its validation to the proposer's budget for Phase III (see Funds Available, below). Some possible activities and areas of focus to consider in the validation phase are: • Using GPS and cell phone technologies • Using an ad hoc mobile network that communicates travel time/speed and reliability data from in-vehicle navigation devices to all other vehicles with the same or similar type of equipment • Converting ATRs so they provide real-time and archival data • Using data loggers, controllers, or equivalent NTCIP software • Combining travel time data and travel time distributions with interaction effects of the seven factors that influence non-recurring congestion. Prepare and submit to SHRP 2 a Draft Validated Guidebook on Monitoring System(s) for Travel Time Reliability and a Draft Phase III Report that fully documents the work performed under Phase III. SHRP 2 will provide comments on the Draft Validated Guidebook and the Draft Phase III report within 30 days of receipt of these deliverables. Prepare a Final Validated Guidebook report that responds to the SHRP 2 comments. Submit the Final Validated Guidebook and the Final Phase III Report within 60 days of receipt of the SHRP 2 comments. Deliverables • Phase I Draft Report • Phase I Final Report • Phase II Draft Report • Phase II Draft Unvalidated Guidebook • Phase II Final Report • Phase II Final Unvalidated Guidebook • Phase III Draft Validated Guidebook • Phase III Draft Final Report • Phase III Final Validated Guidebook • Phase III Final Report • Three meetings with SHRP 2 staff: Two (2) in Washington, DC and one (1) at the contractor's facility • Semi-annual SHRP 2 Reliability contractor coordination meetings at locations to be determined • Telephone conference calls, as needed Funds Available: Not to exceed $1.8 million for the entire project. A potential contractor may propose any budget allocation by phase in order to most effectively achieve the project objectives and fully take advantage of the expertise of its team. A possible allocation is Phase I: $350,000; Phase II: $550,000; Phase III: $900,000. Responsible Staff: William Hyman, whyman@nas.edu, 202-334-1914 Contract Period: Not to exceed thirty-six (36) months for the entire project. Phases I & II are to be completed in 18 months. Note: Urgent questions that arise during August, 2008, should be addressed to Stephen Andrle at sandrle@nas.edu. Authorization to Begin Work: November 2008, anticipated Proposals (20 single-bound copies) are due not later than 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on September 09, 2008. This is a firm deadline, and extensions simply are not granted. In order to be considered, all 20 copies of the agency's proposal accompanied by the executed, unmodified Liability Statement must be in our offices not later than the deadline shown, or they will be rejected. Delivery Address: PROPOSAL-SHRP 2 ATTN: Neil F. Hawks Director, Strategic Highway Research Program 2 Transportation Research Board 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Phone: 202-334-1430 Liability Statement The signature of an authorized representative of the proposing agency is required on the unaltered statement in order for SHRP 2 to accept the agency's proposal for consideration. Proposals submitted without this executed and unaltered statement by the proposal deadline will be summarily rejected. An executed, unaltered statement indicates the agency's intent and ability to execute a contract that includes the provisions in the statement. The Liability Statement is Figure 1 in the Manual for Conducting Research and Preparing Proposals for SHRP 2 ( http://trb.org/shrp2/SHRPII_Instructions.asp ) (see General Note 4). Here is a printable version of the SHRP 2 Liability Statement ( http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp2/LiabilityStatement.pdf ). A free copy of the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader is available at http://www.adobe.com. General Notes 1. According to the provisions of Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 21, which relates to nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs, all parties are hereby notified that the contract entered into pursuant to this announcement will be awarded without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability. 2. The essential features required in a proposal for research are detailed in the brochure entitled A Manual for Conducting Research and Preparing Proposals for SHRP 2 ( http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/shrp2/PreparingSHRP2Reports.pdf ). Proposals must be prepared according to this document, and attention is directed specifically to Section IV for mandatory requirements. Proposals that do not conform with these requirements will be rejected. 3. The total funds available are made known in the project statement, and line items of the budget are examined to determine the reasonableness of the allocation of funds to the various tasks. If the proposed total cost exceeds the funds available, the proposal is rejected. 4. All proposals become the property of the Transportation Research Board. Final disposition will be made according to the policies thereof, including the right to reject all proposals. 5. Proposals will be evaluated by SHRP 2 staff and Expert Task Groups (ETGs) consisting of individuals collectively very knowledgeable in the problem area. Selection of an agency is made by the SHRP 2 Oversight Committee, based on the recommendation from SHRP 2 staff and the ETG. The following factors are considered: (1) the proposer's demonstrated understanding of the problem; (2) the merit of the proposed research approach and experimental design; (3) the experience, qualifications, and objectivity of the research team in the same or closely related problem area; (4) the proposer's plan for participation by disadvantaged business enterprises-small firms owned and controlled by minorities or women; and (5) the adequacy of facilities. 6. Any clarifications regarding this RFP will be posted on the SHRP 2 Web site at ( www.trb.org/shrp2 ). Announcements of such clarifications will be posted on the front page and, when possible, will be noted in the TRB e-newsletter. Proposers are advised to check the Web site frequently until August 26, 2008, when no further comments will be posted. 7. A bidder's proposal is required to set out a management plan and a plan for quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA). The management plan should identify a person responsible for overall performance of the project, typically an officer of the prime contractor, and who has the authority to take corrective action; an organizational structure of the team with a description of the organizing principles; where and in what manner the key staff and experts will be applied to functions or tasks of the project; how coordination of subcontractors and subconsultants will be achieved; management of resources (budget, labor, equipment); and schedule adherence. The QC/QA plan should address how quality will be built in as the tasks are being executed and describe the oversight necessary to assure the quality of the products of the tasks and phases once they are largely complete. 8. The contractor is responsible for transfer of all electronic content of deliverables (word processing files, CDs, simulation runs, software) so it can be archived. SHRP 2 intends to establish procedures for transferring both structured and unstructured project data so it can be archived and disseminated. SHRP Project L13, Requirements and Feasibility of a System for Archiving and Disseminating data from SHRP 2 Reliability and Related Studies will determine if building an archive for all the Reliability and related research projects ought to occur. The initial requirements and feasibility study may provide a specification for transferring Reliability project data to a temporary repository. IMPORTANT NOTICE Potential proposers should understand that the research project described herein is tentative. The final content of the program depends on the level of funding made available. Nevertheless, to be prepared to execute research contracts as soon as possible after sponsors' approvals, the Strategic Highway Research Program is assuming that the tentative program will become official in its entirety and is proceeding with requests for proposals and selections of research agencies. Special Notes Note 1: This project is focused on monitoring systems to address travel time reliability and non-recurring congestion. However, because the systems can monitor both recurring and non-recurring congestion, they must be able to collect, store, and disseminate data related to causes of travel time variability. Note 2: Work performed under this project should be coordinated with other SHRP 2 projects through interviews and conversations with the research teams or the Principal Investigators. Of most importance is SHRP 2 Project L03: Analytic Procedures for Determining the Impacts of Reliability Mitigation Strategies. Project L06: Institutional Architectures to Advance Operational Strategies may be of some relevance. Proposers should bear in mind that work performed under Project L02 is likely to be used as input to and will be coordinated with SHRP 2 Project L04: Incorporating Reliability Estimation into Planning and Operations Modeling Tools; SHRP2 Project L05: Incorporating Reliability Measures into the Transportation Planning and Programming Process; and SHRP 2 Project L08: Incorporation of Non-Recurrent Congestion Factors into the Highway Capacity Manual Methods. Note 3: The validation plan must be realistic, taking into account the project funds and the portion allocated to Phase III. The three data regimes here can be addressed in a more or less integrated fashion within one or several operating, technical, and data environments defined in Phase I.
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