Transportation System Network Replacement - Dec 2023 Newsletter

ISSUE 4 • DECEMBER 2023

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM NETWORK REPLACEMENT Project Newsletter

Leadership Corner: Meet the Highway Inventory Module Owner Meet Caroline Chen Caroline Chen has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with a Geotechnical concentration in Seismic. She has over 20 years of experience as a licensed Professional Engineer (PE); starting first in the private sector performing site-specific ground motion analysis to improve design and safety of dams under seismic events. She began her career at Caltrans in the Division of Engineering Services conducting foundation design and oversight for bridges, retaining walls, and other highway facilities. Subsequently, she worked for the Division of Traffic Operations, then she was promoted to her current position as Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System (TASAS) Branch Chief in the Caltrans Division of Research, Innovation and System Information (DRISI).

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In This Issue: Leadership Corner: Meet the Highway Inventory Module Owner Pages 1-2 OCM Trending Topic: The Highway Inventory Module Page 3 System Functionality Spotlight: Geospatial Maps Pages 4-6 If you have questions, please contact us at TSNR.Project@dot.ca.gov

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Her Team’s Role in TSNR Project The Transportation System Network Replacement (TSNR) project role that Caroline and her Highway Inventory module team perform is that of expert advisors. They interact frequently with the module vendor, Rizing Geospatial, to provide feedback on the module design documentation, sample reports, source data, and data mapping when needed, as well as to voice challenges the team faces in the current system to make sure the new module is the best solution possible to meet the evolving needs of California’s safety program.

Changes in the New TSN System What Caroline is most excited about in the New TSN System, is the ability to see data in visual form through the geospatial mapping capability, which is described in the article, System Functionality Spotlight: Geospatial Maps. This functionality is exciting and very beneficial to various functional units especially to the safety programs by allowing users the ability to visualize the crash data and related geospatial information and highway inventory at different levels of detail to fit the demands of users.

Caroline Chen Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System (TASAS) Branch Chief Caroline is also a Leadership Coalition member on the TSNR project, taking on the Organizational Change Management (OCM) roles of communicator, liaison, advocate, resistance manager, and coach.

Each role provides an opportunity for her to show support for her team and others through the TSN change journey.

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OCM Trending Topic: The Highway Inventory Module - Foundation for all other modules in the system The Highway Inventory (HI) module is a key component of the New Transportation System Network (TSN) and is the first module in the series to be developed. The newly designed module will now contain all public roads in California and some attributes for those roads such as road name, route number, number of lanes, ownership, etc. It will show these elements in a new geospatial visual format.

The new HI module will also contain additional data for the Model Inventory of Roadway Elements (MIRE) Fundamental Data Element (FDE) that are not currently in the TSN system. Some examples of the expanded MIRE data set include horizontal and vertical curves and ramp length. This will help California meet the federal requirement for MIRE FDE Data reporting.

Most importantly, the new HI module will continue to support the postmile designation to identify unique locations along our State Highway System.

All other modules in the New TSN System will reference this postmile system for all further analysis that is done for Traffic Volume, Crash Coding, and Safety and Investigations. Postmile will continue to be the basis for the Highway Sequence Listing that is generated for all 12 Districts.

The HI module is maintained by the Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System (TASAS) Branch in the Division of Research, Innovation and System Information (DRISI). The team has played a critical role in the configuration of the new HI module and is actively involved in clarifying requirements and testing.

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“Postmile will continue to be the basis for the Highway Sequence Listing that is generated for all 12 Districts.”

Did You Know?

The Organizational Change Management (OCM) Resources page contains tools, job aids, and other useful resources to help transition to the New TSN System.

Learn More

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System Functionality Spotlight: Geospatial Maps Esri Roads and Highways integration with the New Transportation System Network (TSN) System provides a modern interface that allows advanced data analysis and screening using visual tools and maps throughout all the modules. The current TSN is an Oracle database that renders data only in tabular form. Now that same data will be displayed on a map. These maps will include roadway inventory information, crash data locations, traffic volume for any traffic censor on the State Highway System, and investigation locations that are available on a stretch of roadway, depending upon which module is being viewed. Several samples are provided below.

Highway Inventory Module Map The sample below is from the Highway Inventory Module. Using a special software tool called ArcGIS Pro, the Traffic Accident Surveillance and Analysis System (TASAS) engineers can now visually see the effects of changing an intersection or a ramp. The image below shows different colors for sections that are a State Highway versus a local road so the engineer can analyze how these elements work together. Other options to visualize attributes are possible.

Image 1: Visualizing Intersections on a Map – State Highway (Blue) and Local Road (Green)

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Traffic Volume Module Map

Image 2: Visualizing Traffic Co unts on Map

The sample to the right is from a Traffic Volume Module from another state. Using a map, the user can select a traffic count station on the map and see the data associated with the station.

Visualizing Crashes When analyzing crashes, the module user can easily visualize where crashes have occurred and can select which crash severity to view at one or more levels depending on the type of analysis.

It is possible to narrow the analysis further simply by drawing a polygon on the screen to look closer.

Image 3: Visualizing Crashes on a Map

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“Throughout the end-to-end of the New TSN System workflow, maps are available to aid in the analysis and decision-making process.”

Visualizing Investigations Throughout the end-to-end of the New TSN System workflow, maps are available to aid in the analysis and decision-making process. The sample picture below clearly shows the user where a series of investigations are being conducted in a specific area in the state of New York. California’s New TSN System will have a similar capability.

Image 4: Visualizing Where Investigations Are Being Performed on a Map

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