Congestion Management
Federal guidelines requires the development of a congestion management process (CMP) in metropolitan areas with more than 200,000 residents. The CMP systematically considers congestion-related issues and evaluates various relief strategies using established performance measures. The Des Moines metropolitan area is fortunate in that serious congestion issues are not yet impacting the mobility of people living and working in the area. The MPO works to maintain this relatively congestion-free status by using the CMP regularly to identify possible areas of congestions and to evaluate alternative strategies to prevent such congestion. The Transportation Management Advisory Committee is the forum for discussion and review of incidents and transportation-related emergency management.
Access Management
Access management principles have typically been incorporated into the design of new roadways and improvements to existing streets. The MPO collaborated with Iowa State University's Institute for Transportation in 2004 to study access management. The study provides recommendations for possible improvements and best practices.
Intelligent Transportation Systems
As demand on the transportation system increases, the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - those "electronics, communications, or information processing...used to improve the efficiency or safety of surface transportation," according to the U.S. Department of Transportation - likewise becomes more important. Integrating ITS allows traffic data to be archived for future use. A regional ITS architecture report is available here.
Travel Time Survey
The MPO conducts a travel time survey annually. Pre-selected routes are driven during peak traffic times. To ensure a realistic measure is taken, MPO staff only collects data under "normal conditions." Only primary arterial extensions that experience congestion are included in the survey. Please visit the library to view these reports.
