Asset Management for Worcester’s Traffic Future
The City of Worcester, MA is planning for its future traffic signal infrastructure and pedestrian safety efforts by building a City-wide inventory of traffic signals and other public safety assets. Our Transportation team partnered with the City to conduct the evaluation, cataloguing over 250 traffic signal systems, flashing beacons, rapid rectangular flashing beacons (RRFBs), and school zone flashers. The inventory evaluated the City’s traffic signal systems to optimize traffic operations, determine appropriate near term and long-range improvement strategies, and develop a capital plan for implementation.
A physical and operational review of the traffic signals throughout the City was conducted along with an Evaluation and Recommendations Report including information regarding the extent of deficiencies, identifying each location in need of improvements (equipment and/or operation), and providing repair strategies and recommendations. In addition to this report, a Traffic Signal Inventory Dashboard through ArcGIS, including all photos and reporting documentation was developed for the City.
A key goal of the project was to prepare a simple transportation inventory and evaluation to maximize the efficiency of today’s transportation network. The signal inventory included an inventory of all existing signal equipment, including an assessment of condition and operability, sequence and timing data, geometric layout, and review for conformance with federal and state guidelines.
A variety of short-term improvements and field adjustments were provided to the City as part of the project, with marked improvements at many locations. These improvements will provide the City with a pathway to keep pace with increased traffic, local and regional growth, and aging infrastructure. Improvements were prioritized for Capital Planning efforts and programmed into yearly budgets based upon the City’s past expenditures to ensure the critical improvements are addressed in the near-term and less critical improvements addressed subsequently. Both individual intersections and key corridors were identified as part of this effort.
In addition, our team identified opportunities for larger scale capital improvement projects through various funding sources including MassDOT Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) projects, MassDOT Local Bottleneck Reduction Program grants, and City funded capital improvement projects.
