Overview
ADVANCING PLANNING FOR OPERATIONS
Transportation planners have a challenging job. They must balance competing priorities and needs against an anticipated but not necessarily known future. Planners must answer complex questions such as:
- Will congestion decrease if we invest in a particular strategy?
- What will be the environmental impacts of a new traffic signal timing plan?
- What should our new performance target be for travel time reliability?
- How might travel patterns change and where will we see the worst congestion in the future?
The use of analysis tools in planning for operations supports decisionmaking by answering all of these questions and more. Planning for operations is a joint effort between transportation planners and operators to integrate transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategies into the transportation planning process in order to improve transportation system safety, efficiency, and reliability. A fundamental aspect of achieving this goal is using the right analysis tools to predict the most beneficial outcomes.
Analysis tools and methods give transportation practitioners the ability to assess strategies independently or in conjunction with other transportation investments, facilitating the evaluation of different alternatives so that the right mix can be selected and the optimal results can be realized. Analysis tools also provide planners with fact based information that can be used to communicate the analytical results of these kinds of comparisons with elected officials, other decision makers, and the public, helping them make better and more informed decisions about transportation investments.