Improving Safety in Street Running and Mixed Use Environments
Kevin Jones Walter Heinrich Systems Safety Director Director of Safety Parsons Transportation MTA of Harris Pittsburgh, PA County Houston, TX
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Key Presentation Take Aways
• What is the Safety message you are trying to present? How consistent is it with all the problems you are facing?
• Understanding the interface of LRVs, vehicles, and pedestrians in different environments. What works one place may not work in another.
• Process for identifying and analyzing the potential hazard and determination of needed mitigations.
• Cooperation between contractor, agency, stakeholders, and the general public to find suitable mitigations.
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Returning Rail to Houston
• 20 year battle starting in 1983 to get rail back to Houston.
• Local plan (no Federal $$) was finally created with ground broken March 13, 2001 and opened January 1, 2004.
• Cost was $324 million.
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference 2004 Red Line
7.5 mile alignment through Texas Medical Center, Museum District, Midtown, and Downtown
16 stations
1 Park & Ride (Fannin South)
18 Siemens LRVs
Top speed is 40 MPH between Fannin South and Reliant Park, mostly 30 - 35 MPH elsewhere
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Accidents
During the two months of pre-revenue and the first month of revenue, there were 16 accidents.
By the end of the first year of revenue there had been 68 accidents.
METRORail has averaged 47 accidents a year, though very few have been serious.
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Why So Many Accidents?
Only 1 mile of the original 7.5 miles is exclusive right of way with ballasted track The remaining 6 miles of track: • are embedded in concrete • in between or right next to lanes of traffic allowing for easy access for vehicles to get onto the trackway
Of the 70+ grade crossings, • only 11 have crossing gates • 4 are pedestrian crosswalks • the remaining governed by traffic signals 13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Signal Cycles in Downtown
1. Southbound train has signal – northbound traffic has green light
2. NB train has signal – NB traffic has red light
3. NB train has cleared– NB traffic gets green light again
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference In-Pavement Lighting
Lighted Stop Bar System tested at multiple locations starting 2006
(both pictures from Texas Transportation Institute paper “Lighted Pavement Marker Stop Bar & LED- Outlined Backplates Performance Comparison Report, Jonathan Tydlacka, January 6, 2012)
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference LED Backplates for Traffic Signals
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Results of In-Pavement Lights and Backplates
Initial reports by Texas Transportation Insitutue (TTI) showed Backplates created a statistically significant reduction in Red Light running
In-pavement lights showed a statistically significant reduction in illegal right turns on red
Additional applications showed in-pavement lights created a significant reduction in Red light running at 2 out of 4 intersections and of illegal right turns on red at 3 out of 4 intersections
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Results of In-Pavement Lights and Backplates
HOWEVER –
The contractor of the in-pavement lights could not maintain them (even after several upgrades) and ended the contract – the lights have been turned off
LED Backplates were installed along all the new light rail corridors
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference A Look at Shared Turn Lanes
Texas Medical Center (TMC) is Houston’s 2nd largest employment center with 106,000+ employees and over 160,000 visitors each day
METRORail has 3 stations in TMC
Due to the lack of space, METRORail shares 11 turn lanes with vehicles
Accidents in TMC have averaged 27% of the system total with one intersection in TMC averaging 10% of all METRORail accidents!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference A Look at Shared Turn Lanes
A Green Arrow tells drivers when they can A Red ‘X’ tells drivers not to enter the lane enter the shared lane
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference A Look at Shared Turn Lanes
Mitigations have included:
• In pavement lights (since removed)
• Directional arrows for all lanes (Dryden only)
• Train active signs
• Shrouds on turn signals (only for green turn arrows)
• Signage
• Green Arrow for entry into the lane, Red ‘X’ to say when not to enter
• Bollards to delineate turn lanes
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference A Look at Shared Turn Lanes
Accidents happen 1 of 2 ways:
Drivers enter the turn lane on a Red ‘X’ Drivers turn from a straight lane
NOTE: Signal for turn lane is red, train active sign is on, and green straight arrows for each lane
2 cars still turning illegally!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Pedestrian Mall
Areas with little to no separation between pedestrians and trains
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Pedestrian Mall
Areas with little to no separation between pedestrians and trains
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference So What Has Been Most Effective?
Biggest reduction of accidents has come from: 1. Signal priority – accidents due to illegal turns dropped to nearly 0 at those intersections 2. Backplates and in-pavement lighting have shown to help reduce accidents 3. Making new changes has shown to reduce accidents for a short period Ex. – No accidents for 4 months at our worst intersection after directional arrows were installed along with additional striping
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Issues With Correcting Trouble Spots
One issue is that we do not own all the infrastructure necessary to implement safety features
Two issues that are preventing us from correcting problems with our shared turn lanes:
• Signal cycle is already at the maximum time allowed and cannot add another cycle
• Turn lanes were part of the agreement in constructing METRORail due to access to hospitals and parking garages
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference METRORail Expansion
In 2008, a referendum was passed to expand the rail system and add 5 new lines
Only 3 lines have been built so far
The North Corridor expansion (to the existing Red Line) opened December 21, 2013
The new East End (Green Line) and Southeast Corridors (Purple Line) opened May 23, 2015
Cost was approximately $1.1 billion
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Design / Builder Design / Build Responsibilities
• Design and Construct Metro Solution expansion corridors and facilities (civil and systems) • Testing and commissioning of corridors • Implementation of System Safety Program Plan (including Safety Certification) Downtown (DT) Corridor
• Green and Purple lines were to share a new Downtown Corridor for just over 1 mile on two one-way streets • This corridor would not only share the right of way with traffic, but would also interface with numerous parking lots and parking garages and cross the Red Line at grade in the middle of the street Overview of DT Corridor
Hazard Analysis
• HRT conducted a Hazard Analysis - followed FTA guidance for Hazard Analysis
• Allowed for review of all access points to determine potential mitigations
Possible Mitigations
• Eliminate as many access points as possible
• Provide advance warning of approaching LRVs Possible Mitigations
• Use static signage based on TxMUTCD at each access point
• Develop rules and procedures for LRV operations • Including reduced speed in shared used lanes • Operator training program Possible Mitigations
• Develop a Public Awareness Campaign
• Provide clear lines of sight • HRT commissioned a line of sight study Line of Sight Study
• HRT commissioned this study, through a sub-contractor in the Summer of 2012
• It was decided that the outcome of this study would decide need for additional signage / warning devices Line of Sight Study
• Used the City of Houston requirements for determining horizontal sight distance • 360 feet Typical Application Results
• Total of 24 locations were reviewed • Rusk – 15 • Capitol – 9
• Total of 24 locations were reviewed • 2 areas were found to need Active Signage
The Effect of the New Alignments
Safety message had to be redeveloped due to new hazards
Previous mitigations were implemented and some had to be modified to work
Had to rely on stakeholders to apply some mitigations and now approach others more frequently for their help in promoting Rail Safety
Some issues that had only been a “special event” before are now an “everyday event”!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Changing the Safety Message
BEFORE: No trespassing! - Tracks are for trains! Enter shared turn lanes only at designated entrances!
NOW: No trespassing! - Tracks are for trains! Enter shared turn lanes only at designated entrances! Share lanes of traffic with trains and don’t cut them off!
So instead of 2 messages to drivers – there are now 3!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Double Left Turn Lanes
Traffic in both the shared lane and adjacent lane can turn left
Train gets a signal on a 4-way red for traffic
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Changes in Previous Mitigations
Previous pedestrian poles were metal, but were not grounded.
METRO decided to move to a fiberglass pole and chain.
Previously, pedestrian poles were placed only at stations. Now used in school zones and high-pedestrian traffic areas.
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Curbs Instead of Bollards in Shared Use Lanes Curbs in street did not work as well as planned – especially with a crosswalk positioned at the entrance to a parking garage!
Correct Wrong!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Stakeholders Implementing Mitigations
Multiple parking lot/garage owners installed their own signs and lights to warn drivers when they could not be installed elsewhere
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Other Activities
Rail Safety training given to: • school crossing guards, • Fire Department, • construction sites, and • management district personnel
Presentations given at: • schools, • homeless shelters (above), • drivers at valet lanes, • Boy Scouts, and • anyone else who asks or will listen!
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Construction
Downtown Houston currently has 41 multi- million $$ projects • 21 of these are directly adjacent to the rail lines • 8 of the 21 have required rail shutdowns or other direct Safety mitigations
(September 2015 Downtown Houston Development Map from http://downtownhouston.org/site_media/uploads/attachments/2015-09- 22/150922_Development_Map__Renders_11X17.pdf) 13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Construction Mitigation
Station modifications for adjacent construction activities
Both of the Convention District stations required some type of mitigation – Central Station Capitol will need similar mitigation for a parking garage in the year to come 13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference Construction Events
Construction of new parking garage for George R. Brown Convention Center resulted in nightly shutdowns from 7PM - 4AM, 5 nights a week, for 6 weeks
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference In Conclusion
Street running and mixed use environments require different mitigations than traditional right of ways:
• How do you present your Safety message for your different environments? The same message may not be valid along the entire alignment.
• More interaction with vehicles, pedestrians, adjacent landowners, along with making connections to school districts, City/County services, and local organizations.
• Identify hazards and analyze different mitigations in each situation. Be prepared to modify existing mitigations for them to work.
13th National Light Rail & Streetcar Conference