SPRINGDALE -- A Regional Planning committee recommended approval Thursday of two traffic management programs aimed at managing congestion and making roads safer for drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
The two plans, compiled by the consulting firm Cambridge Systematics, should make driving easier, safer and more efficient over the next five to 20 years, even as the population continues to grow. The Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metro area population was 546,725 in the 2020 census. The population is expected to be around 1 million by 2045.
Transportation systems management and operations are strategies focused on operational improvements to maintain or restore the performance of the transportation system before extra capacity is needed. The strategies are often cheaper relative to adding capacity to roads. They frequently are high-impact actions implemented more quickly than a traditional road-building project.
Intelligent transportation systems are the application of electronic technologies and communications to increase the safety and efficiency of roads. The approach allows officials to plan for what they want their system to look like in the long term, then break the system into smaller pieces implemented over time as money permits.
Together, the two initiatives touch on just about everything from traffic light technology to public transit and economics to demographics.
The plans now go to the full Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning board for approval.
Regional Planning last updated its intelligent transportation plan in 2007. They passed a congestion management plan last year.
Tim Conklin, executive director at Regional Planning, said a regional approach is critical because Northwest Arkansas is composed of multiple smaller cities that have to work together on traffic issues.
Compared to other areas, Northwest Arkansas is playing catch-up on technology such as traffic cameras, traffic signal timing and coordination and traveler information systems, according to Conklin.
The intelligent transportation systems plan identified more than 60 potential projects, 44 of which are considered high-priority, including 14 directly related to traffic management.
"They should be pursued immediately and hopefully implemented over the next three- to five-year period," said Bill Loudon, a senior transportation planner with Alliance Transportation Group/DCCM, a subcontractor on the plans.
Regional planners want to get the plans passed so they can begin applying for federal grants to implement the recommendations, according to Elizabeth Bowen, senior planner.
Systems management planning will focus on the roads connecting cities in the region rather than the internal network in the cities themselves, according to the plans.
One option would be coordinating with cities in the region and the Arkansas Department of Transportation to establish a regional transportation management center to manage traffic using real-time traffic data from cameras, speed sensors and other equipment to mitigate congestion from a central location, according to the plans.
The information is collected and then analyzed to make modifications using automated systems, such as connected traffic lights and message boards. Special software allows an operator in the transportation management center to communicate directly with field equipment and modify traffic signal programs in real time, for example.
Another option could be having coordinated traffic management systems on all the major roads in the region. Coordinated signal timing, for example, synchronizes traffic movements and manages speed for uninterrupted traffic flow along a corridor. It can also be used to vary speed limits under certain conditions, allow emergency vehicles to preempt traffic signals at intersections or allow transit buses to extend a green light so they can get through an intersection.
Currently, each of Northwest Arkansas' cities is responsible for maintaining and operating traffic signals within their jurisdiction. The methods for signal operation and the level of technology used vary widely within the region.