scope:

Scope of TSMO

TSMO considers:

▸ The entire multimodal transportation system and how that system's performance can be enhanced cost-effectively and effi ciently while minimizing negative impacts to travelers and their safety.

▸ The full range of communities that surround transportation facilities.

▸ The environment.

TSMO can address multiple modes throughout the trip chain, as presented in Figure 1.1-1. TSMO tactics can provide information to travelers to aff ect choice of destination by showing conditions (congestion, weather, etc.) on the transportation system. Historical and real-time traffi c information can infl uence time-of-day choice. Information about travel times, costs, and how to use various modes of travel can infl uence the mode travelers choose to make their trip. Once en route, information about conditions on various alternate routes can serve as input to route choice decision. Finally, conditions on their route can infl uence decisions they make while on the facility they chose. Throughout this decision-making process, TSMO tactics can respond to and infl uence travel conditions on modes and routes through traffi c control, pricing, incentives, and priority given to more effi cient means of travel.

TSMO encompasses a broad range of multimodal tactics, services, and transportation treatments to manage travel and impacts to travel on the transportation network, considering the needs of all travelers (for example, motorists, pedestrians, transit users, freight). TSMO combines traditional transportation approaches, advanced technology, and operational management concepts. TSMO tactics focus on real-time transportation system performance from three perspectives:

▸ TSMO off ers the ability to proactively address a wide range of transportation challenges that make travel unreliable, such as severe weather, disruptions caused by traffi c incidents or work zones, and other causes of unexpected severe traffi c congestion.

▸ TSMO addresses conditions that aff ect the effi ciency of transportation, such as ineffi cient traffi c signal timing, poor transit performance, and delay caused by traffi c demand exceeding capacity.

▸ TSMO reduces the likelihood of crashes by smoothing the fl ow of traffi c and mitigating disruptions that can introduce hazardous driving conditions, such as work zones, weather conditions, and downstream incidents.

TSMO tactics can be implemented at modest cost with less severe environmental impacts and disruption to residents and businesses compared to traditional roadway construction projects. However, while TSMO tactics have advantages, these tactics should be considerate of the broader understanding of the history of highways, especially expansion projects that have also disproportionately impacted already disadvantaged and low-income communities. TSMO tactics should strive to avoid those impacts to communities and populations already disrupted by highway construction when there is knowledge about the possibility of inequitable impacts and the consideration to circumvent those impacts.

TSMO tactics should be considered fi rst, as they may be able to fully address the problem. If TSMO tactics can't fully address the problem, they can lessen the impact of the problem until other solutions, like traditional construction projects, can be implemented. By using TSMO to manage and improve service, an agency can raise its profi le as a responsive government organization that makes the most of its resources to address transportation challenges.