Transportation Research Board
AHB45 –MINUTES
Committee on Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics
Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 1:30pm – 5:00pm
Marriott Hotel, Wilson B & C
Washington, D.C.
1. Welcome and Call to Order N.H. Gartner
Chairman Nathan Gartner called the committee to order at 1:30 p.m.
2. Introductions – Members & Friends All Attendees
Committee members and friends introduced themselves. A total of 65 members and friends were in attendance (58 last year).
3. Review and Approval of Minutes R.L. Bertini
It was moved, seconded and passed unanimously to approve the minutes of the Committee Meeting of January 23, 2007. Minutes are available on the committee website (www.tft.pdx.edu).
4. Chairman’s Report N.H. Gartner
Chairman Nathan Gartner provided his report to the committee.
Chairman Gartner introduced three new committee members: Dr. Daiheng Ni from the University of Massachussets Amherst, Dr. Der-Horng Lee, National University of Singapore, and Dr. Ghulam Bham, Missouri University of Science and Technology. This brings total committee membership to 28, with 8 being international members. It is possible to increase the number to 35 with the addition of up to two young members (now <35 years of age). Emeritus members can also be added, for people with more than 18 years of service. In April 2009 there will be a member rotation. As always, please communicate with the Chairman if you have ideas for future members or if you wish to rotate off.
The Chairman also reminded the committee that the committee’s triennial review is due in March 2008.
5. Paper Review and Sessions N.H. Gartner
Chairman Gartner presented a summary of the paper review process, which as he noted is perhaps the committee’s most important activity. There remains a high degree of competition for paper publication.
This year the committee again sponsored 4 lectern sessions with 5 papers each. These were successful with good attendance and lively discussion. The committee also sponsored a total of 33 poster presentations. A total of 83 papers were submitted (88 were submitted last year), 80 for presentation and 2 for publication only. One paper was later withdrawn. A total of 53 papers were accepted for presentation and the committee sponsored four podium sessions (20 papers) and 33 poster presentations (65.4% acceptance rate for presentation). Thus 28 papers were rejected. There is no quality difference between a podium paper and a poster paper—the podium papers were chosen based on degree of fit into a cohesive theme area. As in past years, the poster presentations allow for more focused one-on-one discussions with the authors.
Of the total of 83 papers submitted, 7 were submitted for presentation only, leaving 76 for consideration for publication. Given the approximate TRB publication ratio of 25%, we can expect approximately 22 papers to be published. Of these, based on reviews, 38 were rejected and 20 were accepted with review and revision instructions. The remaining 18 papers were left in a “to be determined” category, and up to 2 of these will be published. Decisions will be made after the Annual Meeting. Chairman Gartner again asked session chairs to provide feedback toward the publication decision.
Here is a table summarizing the 2008 publication cycle:
Papers Received / 83 / Total papers submittedPresentation only / 7
Publication only / 2
Present and publish / 73
Withdrawn / -1
TOTAL / 82
Presentation Decision / 81 / Papers submitted for presentation
Lectern / 20 / 4 sessions x 5 papers each
Poster / 33
Subtotal / 53 / 65.4% accepted for presentation
Rejected / 28
Publication Decision / 76 / Papers submitted for publication
Accepted / 1
Revise and re-review / 19
To be determined / 18
Subtotal / 38 / 50% provisional acceptance rate (only ~22 slots available)
Rejected / 38
Reviews
Assigned / 332
Received / 315
Response rate / 95%
Number of Reviewers / 140 / 2.4 assigned papers per reviewer
There was some brief discussion about techniques used by other committees in the poster sessions where each author is given 5 minutes to make an “elevator pitch,” with no more than 5 slices. It was noted that a strong session chair would be needed to make sure that the time constraints are observed.
The committee thanked Chairman Gartner for his hard work to complete the paper review process. Chairman Gartner thanked members and friends for good reviews and for submitting them on time.
6. TRB Report – Staff Representative R. Cunard and D. Turner
Rich Cunard provided the TRB staff report. This year there were 10,000 pre-registrations and TRB envisions a total of 10,600 attendees. Members should note that next year the meeting will move to January 11-15, 2009, before the Martin Luther King Holiday.
This year there will be a total of 2,000 events, with 86 well-attended Sunday workshops. With a total of 600 sessions and 2,800 papers presented, there were about 400 papers in the operations area. This year there were no submittal glitches due to the installation of new servers, the off-line pdf-generation and the dual submittal dates for Word and pdf files. This year 90% of the submittals were pdf.
This year approximately 25% of the papers will be published in the 2008 TRR, and Rich encouraged authors to submit their final manuscripts by March 15, 2008 (April 1 deadline). Proceedings are now on DVD. The TRR will be indexed through Thompson Scientific, after a few changes to the TRR front end material. However the index for 2006 was missed.
Rich also mentioned the Research Topics Index which is now available. This is now linked on the committee website. Rich also mentioned that hotel renovations continue at the Marriott and the Hilton. The meeting now consists of about 50% poster sessions—he asked a question about whether the future should focus on posters. Rich also mentioned that TRB will be helping organize the Greenshields Symposium this summer. The committee members thanked Rich for all of his efforts to make the Annual Meeting successful.
Dan Turner, Chair of the Operations Section, also addressed the committee. He thanked the committee volunteers, noting that TRB is made up of 6,500 volunteers. He emphasized our need to become more nimble in the face of budget reductions and other challenges, including globalization.
Dan noted that TRB members are now making reservations at nine hotels and that TRB is anxious for attendee feedback—keep an eye out for the post-meeting online survey.
Dan emphasized the importance of the upcoming revisions to the Triennial Strategic Plan and encouraged committee members to review the scope of the committee and determine how we can help respond to globalization.
Within the committee’s technical activities, there are seven action items that need to be addressed. In addition, he emphasized the need for the committee to develop and post research problem statements that address gaps in current knowledge. He encouraged us to develop performance measures in our strategic plan that would allow us to be evaluated in the future.
Some discussion was held about TRB publications, regarding a possible move to year-round publications. It was also emphasized that increasing use of citations will increase the impact factor of the TRR series. The committee members thanked Dan for his service as chair of the operations group.
7. FHWA Programs and Activities J. Halkias
John Halkias reported on FHWA activities. The NGSIM program is now in its fifth year with the following accomplishments and status:
· There are four datasets containing vehicle trajectory data (30-45 minutes each) at 1/10 second resolution on the NGSIM website.
· Four driver behavior algorithms will be developed:
o Recurrent congestion:
§ Lane changing on arterials
§ Cooperative forced merge on freeways
§ Lane change on freeways (currently being validated and implemented in software)
o Nonrecurrent congestion: future
· NGSIM is evolving toward a self-governing community (FHWA funds are ending)
· The University of Idaho is pursuing research regarding driver behavior at stop bar approaches.
· Virginia Tech and other University Transportation Centers are also pursuing research topics related to NGSIM.
· There is a need to focus on workzones.
The Traffic Analysis Toolbox (see http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficanalysistools/toolbox.htm) work continues as well:
· Measure of Effectiveness (MOE) Definitions Report
· Calculations an interpretations
· Predicting Performance of Traffic Analysis Tools: comparing actual performance with models
The Integrated Corridor Management program also continues:
· Analysis and simulation framework
· Testbed in Oakland, California
· Evaluation strategies being developed for pioneer sites
· Pooled fund study consisting of five states is underway.
Other ongoing activities include:
· Quantifying the benefits of congestion pricing: five cities are participating (includes HOVàHOT lane conversions)
· Work zone models
· Guide for Evacutation Modeling
· Operational Tools for Planners
Finally, John mentioned that the NGSIM website includes a list of data set needs. Ben Coifman asked whether the 1 second data from the late 1980s (Turner Fairbank) existed anywhere, but there was no one who knew the answer.
8. 2008 Mid-Year Committee Meeting – Woods Hole, MA
Symposium on the Fundamental Diagram (Greenshields 75 Symposium) R. Kühne
The Committee’s mid-year meeting and Greenshields 75th Anniversary Symposium will be held at the J. Erik Jonsson Conference Center of the National Academy of Sciences, Woods Hole, MA, July 8-10, 2008. This is near Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket for those wishing to extend their travel for vacations.
The daily rate for the conference center (capacity 70 people) includes breakfast, lunch and snacks. The committee agreed that an optional dinner on Tuesday evening will be included as a separate item through the registration. The facility can facilitate webcast of the audio of the meeting. Some options briefly discussed were to post the presentations on the committee website, to publish a proceedings document through TRB and/or to develop a Greenshields book.
Reinhart Kühne has collected a Greenshields archive of his publications from the U.C. Berkeley Transportation Library. Chairman Gartner has received 10-12 abstracts for presentations and a draft agenda was distributed. A total of 25-30 people expressed interest in participating. The program is open for presentations and contributions, with a focus on perspectives on traffic flow theory.
Traffic Flow Theory Monograph H. Mahmassani
The Traffic Flow Theory Monograph has been published on the committee’s website. The web version now includes the final monographs at: see http://www.tft.pdx.edu/docs.htm). Scanned versions of the 1964 and 1975 monographs are also available. The committee and attendees expressed interest in being able to order a “print on demand” bound version of the final version of the 2001 Monograph. R. Bertini will investigate and pursue this option. A question was raised whether the monograph is listed in TRIS, and R. Bertini offered to investigate. After investigating it turns out that the original FHWA version is in fact listed in TRIS but the revised version is not.
9. Joint Sub-Committee on Traffic Simulation Models K. Courage
Ken Courage presented the activities of the Joint Subcommittee on Simulation. The subcommittee sponsored a successful Sunday workshop on Evacuation Modeling with about 200 participants, despite conflicts with other events.
The newsletter is growing in size and distribution. The subcommittee is working on identifying topics for next year. The subcommittee meeting attracted about 100 people. There is interest in adopting other sponsoring committees, including the committee on network modeling.
The subcommittee has created a new task group on simulation applications to safety. The committee thanked Ken for his leadership in this important area.
10. Other Sub-Committee Activity Attendees
Mohammed Hadi discussed suggestions for possible research problem statements and distributed forms for participants to fill out. The statements will be synthesized and incorporated into the research needs database.
Participants suggested future workshop topics on Research Needs and Dos and Don’ts of Simulation Models.
The Triennial Strategic Plan is due March 1. R. Bertini will lead development of the new plan.
11. Announcements and Future Meetings Attendees
Serge Hoogendoorn provided a brief presentation about an ongoing European project called NEARCITE.
R. Bertini reminded members that the website (www.tft.pdx.edu) is available as a resource for the committee. Send suggestions and edits to Robert Bertini at . Note that the username for password protected documents has been changed to AHB45. The password remains the same.
12. New Business Attendees
There was some discussion about creating a repository of past publications, and Libby Jones, Sue Ahn, Jorge Laval and Nikolas Geroliminis volunteered to work with R. Bertini on a plan for this. Hani Mahmassani suggested that we investigate including the two monographs (Traffic Flow Theory and Traffic Signals) by Gordon Newell as pdf files through the TFT website. R. Bertini will investigate with U.C. Berkeley who currently sells paperback bound versions of the two monographs.
15. Adjournment N.H. Gartner
Chairman Gartner adjourned the meeting at 4:10 p.m.