Case Study – Navigating the Approval Process

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Internal champions are often instrumental in identifying a need and acquiring the goods they require to get their job done more effectively. Cost/benefit analyses, product literature and references from other organizations are frequent requirements for approval, but the internal champion is the one who maintains the momentum and wins the right to get the tools they need.

Introduction and MPO Profile

It was the internal champion at Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization (BSCMPO) who was instrumental in leading the adoption of automated traffic data collection with Miovision at the MPO. Their champion led Miovision’s approvals through the MPO’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), their Policy Committee and finally the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

BCSMPO is located in the City of Bryan, Texas and presides over the cities of Bryan and College Station in Brazos County. The MPO is home to 170,000 people and Texas A&M University.

Scenario

Each fiscal year, the MPO writes a Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) in cooperation with TXDOT and the local Transit District. The FY2009-2010 UPWP contained a special study to obtain Turning Movement Counts (TMCs) for a set of 15 benchmark intersections, as well as ongoing traffic data collection tasks. These jobs are typically contracted externally with an RFP.

Prior to submission of the UPWP, the BCSMPO evaluated Miovision against the costs of outsourcing a total of 45 TMCs over three years. Cost comparisons showed that Miovision was able to reduce the costs of data collection by 25% per year for a total savings of $5,478, shown in Table 1.

In addition to a cost savings, simplifying data collection with Miovision made data accessible to all members of the MPO.  More departments within the MPO were able to use the data collected and could gain from the reports they were previously unable to access.

For these reasons, the recommendation for Miovision was added to the UPWP.

Table 1: Cost Comparison

The Approval Process

The recommendation to automate traffic data collection with Miovision had to be submitted for a series of reviews with:

1. the MPO’s Technical Advisory Committee,
2. the Policy Committee, and finally,
3. the Texas Department of Transportation.

Championed by a member of the BCSMPO’s TAC, Miovision successfully passed each level of approvals needed to make the equipment purchase, and be recognized as the preferred traffic data collection method.

At each stage, separate criteria were evaluated, which are outlined in Table 2.

Table 2: BCSMPO Approval Process

Results

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BCSMPO can now easily generate high quality data at a cost savings compared to manual counting. Most intersections have historically required two manual counters from Texas A&M University, doubling the manual counting costs, which means Miovision could potentially save the BCSMPO up to 73% per count. (See fig 1)

Figure 1: At high-volume intersections, two manual counters are required where only one Miovision Video Collection Unit is needed, potentially saving the BCSMPO up to 73% per TMC.

Traffic data can now be acquired and shared more easily throughout the MPO.  The Miovision system is now being used beyond the Engineering Department and data is being requested and used by other members within the MPO.

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