Overview
More and more, transportation system operators are seeing the benefits of strengthening links between planning and operations. A critical element in improving transportation decision-making and the effectiveness of transportation systems related to operations and planning is through the use of analysis tools and methods. This brochure is one in a series of five intended to improve the way existing analysis tools are used to advance operational strategies in the planning process. The specific objective of developing this informational brochure series was to provide reference and resource materials that will help planners and operations professionals to use existing transportation planning and operations analysis tools and methods in a more systematic way to better analyze, evaluate, and report the benefits of needed investments in transportation operations. This particular case study focused on compiling information on various operations strategies in order to promote a greater understanding of the impacts including:
• High-level summaries of the likely impacts of operational strategies on performance measures.
• Guidance on specific thresholds or rules-of-thumb that have been developed to help practitioners identify conditions that warrant deployment of particular operations strategies.
The guidance provided in this case study is intended to bridge a common knowledge gap faced by many deploying agencies and aims to answer the questions: “what situations are most conducive to operational strategy deployments” and “what are the likely impacts of the strategies under consideration.”