Commentary: Beyond Funding

Future technology and trends in the transportation industry

By Ken Burns

As we advance into the 21st Century, we can expect our transportation systems to advance with our more efficient lifestyles. We continue to see rapid improvements in our quality of life and we should expect the same with our transportation systems.

Several future trends include increased use of technology both on our highways and in our vehicles, more prevalent use of green technologies, more advanced corridors that combine multimodal forms of transportation, improvements to our existing transportation network and a potential shifting of who operates and maintains our highways.

High-Tech Info. Increased use of technology will enhance the performance of our existing transportation system. We are already seeing the benefits of these systems. From the I-25 corridor to the I-70 mountain corridor, use of technology is increasing daily with the implementation of traveler information systems such as 511, CDOT's interactive Web site or dynamic message signs on the road. For incident management, we now have more active response systems such as courtesy patrols and heavy tow trucks.

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Congestion management may be improved by the use of dynamic speed limits on freeways to delay the onset of congestion and provide safer and smoother traffic flow as well as the implementation of reversible lanes. In our arterial and local road systems, greater use of traffic-responsive signal systems will improve traffic flow. For freight carriers, additional truck parking stations and chain-up areas will help address the needs of the trucking industry.

Green Machines Development and use of environmentally friendly vehicles will continue to increase, not only for passenger vehicles but also for construction equipment. Recently, Caterpillar debuted an electric-drive dozer. Improvements to engines will continue with bio-fuel and electric options becoming commonplace, which will reduce emissions. The size of vehicles on the highways will also change. Passenger vehicles will become smaller while some freight carriers may utilize larger vehicles to transport goods more efficiently. Finally, recycling our existing materials will increase as we see more and more pressure from other industries and countries vying for limited resources.

Multimodal systems are here to stay. Study European transportation systems and you get a sense of where we may be in 10, 25, 50 years in the future. The old saying applies-they are not making more land, so we need to use what we have effectively. As our designs become more context-sensitive, our future transportation projects will combine highway and rail service to provide comprehensive solutions to congestion. We are now seeing this with implementation of the RTD FasTracks program. The T-REX project is a shining example of successful multimodal transportation system in Denver. This effort is not just happening in major metropolitan areas, as we see the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority and the TRANSFORT systems in Fort Collins expanding. These systems are reducing our commute times and ultimately enrich our lives as we can spend less time traveling to and from work and more time doing what we enjoy.

Pay As You Go As we continue to find more efficient ways to fund our highway improvements, expect to see the increased use of high-occupancy lanes and toll lanes to emerge. These systems will provide all of us with improved reliability as we travel to our major destinations.

Currently, there are multiple environmental clearance processes under way on many of our existing highways and in new rail corridors. As these studies are completed, we will see safety and capacity enhancements that will improve system efficiencies as well as many improvements to the local transportation networks they pass through.

Finally, we may well see our road and rail systems owned and operated by private firms from either the United States or abroad. Here in Colorado, we just witnessed the team of Brisa/CCR, a joint venture based in Portugal, win the bid to operate and maintain the Northwest Parkway. We can expect this model to be used on other larger corridors as more and more alternate funding methods are used. We may well see this concept applied to smaller projects for some our counties and municipalities as well.

Ken Burns is transportation division manager for PBS&J's Colorado operations and the American Council of Engineering Cos. of Colorado's Transportation Committee chair. PBS&J is a national full-service engineering firm with more than 80 offices throughout the country. ACEC/CO's Transportation Committee examines issues like the ones discussed in this article and explores opportunities and the use of engineering resources for transportation solutions.

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