Southeast Michigan Regional Transportation Operations Coordinating Committee – January 22, 2021

Posted on Posted in Minutes

MEETING MINUTES

SOUTHEAST MICHIGAN REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION OPERATIONS

COORDINATING COMMITTEE

Date: January 22, 2021                                                                                                                          

Time: 9:00 AM

Meeting Held: Virtual Microsoft Team Meeting sponsored by Michigan Department of Transportation

Freeway and Arterial Operations Update

Aaron Raymond from MDOT reported on freeway and arterial operations issues.  He reported that freeway traffic volumes had returned to 80% of the level before the pandemic shutdown in March of 2020.  There are still traffic incidents on the freeways, and the Freeway Courtesy Patrol is still functioning   

MDOT has designated a TSMO Engineer at SEMTOC, and his initial work has been concentrated on traffic signal operations.  He is coordinating his efforts with local road agencies.

A central traffic system is operational on Gratiot (M-3) and is being installed on Woodward Ave.

TIM Partnering Workshop Plans for 2020

Jeff Young from the Washtenaw County Road Commission reported that the TIM Partnering Workshop for 2020 to be held at the Washtenaw County Community College in Ann Arbor on May 21, 2020 has been postponed to May 13, 2021. He is working to confirm the panel scheduled to discuss traffic planning for University of Michigan football games . Dennis Neubacher has agreed to provide a traffic reporters perspective on daily freeway traffic operations …The Planning Committee will review the ability of Washtenaw Community College to host this event in view of pandemic limitations.

Traffic Planning for Detroit Events.

Carl Berry provided notes with the following information:

The North American International Auto Show has been renamed Motor bella will be taking place the last week of September in Pontiac.. The dates will be September 21-26.  Public days will be September 23-25. The attached document describes the event.

The fireworks on the Detroit River are scheduled for the end of August.

2021-2022 MDOT Construction Projects

Josh Carey and Kelsey Cox from the Michigan Department of Transportation presented the construction projects planned for the region during the next two years.  Kelsey Cox is the Traffic Operations Engineer for the Metro Region.  The projects include reconstruction of M-3 (11 Mile to 14 Mile in Macomb County), reconstruction of M-59 (Romeo Plank to I-94 in Macomb County), reconstruction of I-75 (M-102 to 13 Mile in Oakland County), and reconstruction of I-275 (6 Mile to Wayne/Monroe Cl.in Wayne County). 

The attached listing provides more details of the program. A project listing is attached.

Fire Service Report

Canton Fire Chief Christopher Stoecklein reported that the SE Fire Chiefs Expo scheduled for Novi in April has been postponed until 2021.  Fire and emergency response have been slowed by COVID precautions.  Responders may have to do personal protective equipment if they face exposure to the virus.  There has been a decrease in run volumes between March and June of 2020.  Since July he has noted an increase in traffic volumes and an associated increase in response times. 

 He finds the information on MDOT construction projects and winter weather operations to be helpful. Several new chiefs have been added to the SE Michigan Chiefs Board of Directors.  Covid-19 vaccination sites are likely to be quite popular and could result in traffic congestion.  He is hoping to find a suitable location fire service truck driver training, and he explore closed MDOT rest areas as possible training sites.

Winter Weather Operations in Macomb County

John Abraham from the Macomb County Department of Roads described how his Traffic Operations Center is used to respond to winter weather operations,  Traffic signal timing plans have been prepared for various degrees of snow levels, and CCTV cameras help to select the appropriate signal timing for winter road conditions.  Signal timing splits are similar to normal traffic patterns, but offsets are changed to respond to the slower traffic speeds during snow events.

Statewide Traffic Incident Management

Dawn Miller reported on statewide traffic incident management activities. 

Mi-TIME National Traffic Incident Management Responder Training

  • Mi-TIME total training sessions: 382 (most recent 12/13/20)
  • Total responders trained: 8307 which is 25.5% of Michigan responders.
  • Goal: 50% (16,278) of Michigan responders trained by 12/31/22
  • Fire/rescue have 50% trained, Law enforcement 23.2%, DOT/Roads 34.9%, others less than 20%
  • Virtual trainings in December 2020 conducted using Zoom for Detroit Police Department and Microsoft Teams for Clio Fire Department 
  • More virtual trainings are being scheduled for January and February. 

National Traffic Incident Response Awareness Week (NTIRAW) – November 9-15, 2020

  • Press conference cancelled at Delta Twp. Fire Dept. due to COVID-19 concerns. Cases were on the rise and cancelling was the safer route to take.
  • DMS, MDOT Facebook, twitter, Monday Memo, news interview, OHSP, media articles, SEMTOC blog delivered message to slow down and move over for responders.

2021 Traffic Safety Summit March 9-10, 2021

  • Postponed – OHSP (Office of Highway Safety Planning) considering “options” over coming weeks.

Next TIM Action Team Meeting: February 3, 2021

  • Guest speaker – Jack Sullivan Director of Training, Emergency Responder Safety Institute 
  • Contact Dawn Miller at [email protected] to be invited to Microsoft Teams meeting