FDOT District Six Participates in TRB 2016 International Conference on Managed Lanes
The Florida Department of Transportation District Six participated and served as the local organizing chair for the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) 2016 International Conference on Managed Lanes. The conference was held from May 4-6 in Downtown Miami.
The conference explored the planning, design, and operational aspects of managed lanes as well as the emerging research needs related to integrating them into modern transportation systems. Representatives from FDOT Central Office, District Six and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise were selected to present on a wide range of topics including incident management, operational growth, public information and customer service.
FDOT hosted the event’s only two off-site tours. The first tour showcased the District’s Transportation System’s Management & Operations Program that manages 95 Express in Miami-Dade County. This tour focused on the resources required to operate the project on a daily basis. Guests were cycled through four demonstration sites that showcased the software used to manage the project, its incident management resources, the control room layout and traffic operator workstation as well as a presentation from management. The combination of these sites provided a comprehensive overview of what it takes to manage one of the busiest managed lanes projects in the country. The second tour was a bus tour of South Florida’s emerging managed lanes network in Miami-Dade and Broward County. Five highway projects, in their different stages of deployment, were featured in this tour. Attendees got to hear from their representatives about the challenges of each individual system and how they are working together to meet the regional needs of the network.
As local chair, District Six developed the agenda for these tours, created the corresponding materials, coordinated logistics and hosted each event. The tours added to the event’s overall experience and gave these international attendees a first-hand view of Florida’s managed lanes efforts.