Bus rapid transit systems have grown in popularity. Most existing and proposed BRT lines operate on city streets for all or a portion of their routes. They may run in mixed traffic; normal or contra-flow curb bus lanes, and/or arterial median busways. This paper describes the design, operations, and effectiveness of each; and identifies the key issues and tradeoffs. Drawing on ongoing research (TCRP Project A-23), it gives illustrative examples of usage, costs and benefits.

This study examined two major transportation corridors in New York State, noting the importance of connectivity among the state’s regions, with other states, across its international borders, and throughout the globe. NYSDOT asked UTRC to explore these themes as part of its larger effort to restructure its organization to better address these issues.

The New York State Thruway, Route I-87, from New York to Albany and the Northway from Albany to the New York Canadian Border defines a major transportation corridor promoting commerce, tourism, commuting and a range of other activities. The corridor lies in the Eastern part of New York State; it links New York City to Canada and serves as crossroad points to New England, the Midwest and the South.

<p>Traffic Congestion interferes with the operations of bus service and imposes additional costs to the transit agency that provides the service. As traffic volumes or congestion increase, traffic speeds decrease, as established in traffic engineering formulas and curves that show speed as a function of the traffic volume to capacity ratio. This results in additional time being required to travel a fixed distance. Congestion also decreases bus speeds and increases the travel time for buses.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes a substantial operational and monetary penalty on bus service. The purpose of this project was to quantify the additional time and operational costs due to traffic congestion. A regression model was developed that estimates the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of the car travel time rate, the number of passengers boarding per mile, and the number of bus tops per mile.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes substantial operational and monetary penalty on bus service. The purpose of this project was to quantify the additional time and costs due to traffic congestion. A regression model was developed that estimates the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of car traffic time rate, number of passengers boarding per mile, and the number of bus tops per mile.

<p>Traffic congestion in Northern New Jersey imposes a substantial time operational penalty on bus service. The purpose of a project was to quantify the additional travel time that buses need because of traffic congestion. A regression model was developed to estimate the travel time rate (in minutes per mile) of a bus as a function of car traffic time rate, number of passengers hoarding per mile, and the number of bus stops per mile.

<p>Work zones are a necessary part of meeting the needs of our nation?s aging transportation infrastructure. With the highway infrastructure getting older and requiring consistent maintenance, it is believed that there will be more work zones in future. These work zones coupled with traffic on highways is a major source of future congestion. Due to this congestion, there are more chances of crashes expected, which is a major cause of concern.

<p>New Yorkers are compiling a list of transit projects of enormous scope and cost. There is no consensus over priorities, and that&#39;s sure to fuel anti-New York sentiment in Congress. Someone needs to take charge here.</p>