The Urban Partnership Agreement (UPA) is an effort of the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

and agencies in four metropolitan areas across the country which are testing out several technologies as an effort to reduce congestion in urban areas. The metro areas of

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

are participants. The technologies being used include

bus rapid transit Bus rapid transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based public transport system designed to have much more capacity, reliability and other quality features than a conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes ...

(BRT),

high-occupancy toll lane A high-occupancy toll lane (or HOT lane) is a type of traffic lane or roadway that is available to high-occupancy vehicles and other exempt vehicles without charge; other vehicles are required to pay a variable fee that is adjusted in response t ...

(HOT) lanes and other

congestion pricing Congestion pricing or congestion charges is a system of surcharging users of public goods that are subject to congestion through excess demand, such as through higher peak charges for use of bus services, electricity, metros, railways, tele ...

dynamic message sign A variable- (also changeable-, electronic-, or dynamic-) message sign, often abbreviated VMS, CMS, or DMS, and in the UK known as a matrix sign, is an electronic traffic sign often used on roadways to give travelers information about special ...

s, and other lane management signage. The federal Department of Transportation sent out requests for cities willing to participate in December 2006. The cities with the most aggressive plans to mitigate congestion were to be selected. Five participants were announced in August 2007, which included the regions listed above as well as

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but New York eventually failed to meet the terms of the agreement they had struck, and was removed from the program. The UPA is focused on using what it calls "the 4Ts" to reduce

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

: tolling,

transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

telecommuting Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commute to a central place of work, such as an office building, ware ...

, and

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

Projects

Miami

In Miami, the primary UPA project is the "95 Express" program, which added high-occupancy toll lanes to

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

that can be used by registered carpools,

hybrid car A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...

s, and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, in addition to toll-paying customers using

SunPass SunPass is an electronic toll collection system within the state of Florida, United States. It was created in 1999 by the Florida Department of Transportation's (FDOT's) Office of Toll Operations, operating now as a division of Florida's Turnpik ...

Ramp meter A ramp meter, ramp signal, or metering light is a device, usually a basic traffic light or a two-section signal light (red and green only, no yellow) together with a signal controller, that regulates the flow of traffic entering freeways accordi ...

ing was also installed.

Minneapolis

The UPA projects in Minneapolis extend from the city's central business district south along Interstate 35W. In downtown, a project rebuilt Marquette Avenue South and Second Avenue South into the

Marq2 transit corridor The Marq2 transit corridor is a north–south thoroughfare in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It consists of the parallel streets of Marquette and Second avenues in the downtown area. Each public streetway has two contraflow bus lanes w ...

with two-lane busways and a system using lettered gates to allow

express bus Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...

es to flow through the downtown region more quickly. Gates on Marquette Avenue are lettered A, B, C, and D, while gate letters E, F, G, and H are used along Second Avenue. "NexTrip" real-time

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

message signs indicating bus arrival times are also installed at each gate. Marq2 began operation in December 2009. Other UPA projects in the region were largely related to building the I-35W Bus Rapid Transitway. This included several stops and

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...

facilities. I-35W also includes HOT lanes which use the

MnPASS E-ZPass Minnesota, formerly MnPass (Pronounced "Minn pass") is the brand name associated with a series of high occupancy toll lanes (HO/T lanes) in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area of Minnesota and is also associated with the electron ...

system. The other lanes of I-35W also received dynamic

active traffic management Active traffic management (also managed lanes, smart lanes, managed/smart motorways) is a method of increasing peak capacity and smoothing traffic flows on busy major highways. Techniques include variable speed limits, hard-shoulder running and ...

signage which gives suggested speed limits which attempt to calm the flow of congested traffic.

San Francisco

Projects in San Francisco include "SFpark", a variable-price on-street and off-street

parking Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied. Parking on one or both sides of a road is often permitted, though sometimes with restrictions. Some buildings have parking facilities for use of the buildings' ...

system, enhanced

5-1-1 5-1-1 is a transportation and traffic information telephone hotline in some regions of the United States and Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to t ...

service (both via phone and web interface), improvements to

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

services, and a better traffic forecasting system for the Grand and MacArthur BRT projects in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

Seattle

The primary project in the Seattle area is related to handling congestion on

Washington State Route 520 State Route 520 (SR 520) is a state highway and freeway in the Seattle metropolitan area, part of the U.S. state of Washington. It runs from Seattle in the west to Redmond in the east. The freeway connects Seattle to the Eastside region ...

with tolling. The freeway's floating bridges over

Lake Washington Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle. It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...

need to be replaced, though replacement is not part of the UPA program, and the tolls are one way to generate funds for a replacement span. The UPA program in Seattle also involved

hybrid bus A hybrid electric bus is a bus that combines a conventional internal combustion engine propulsion system with an electric propulsion system. These type of buses normally use a Diesel-electric powertrain and are also known as hybrid Diesel-elect ...

es and real-time arrival signage at bus stops as well as improved park-and-ride facilities. Seattle has the largest ferry fleet in the United States. That system was also funded, including improvements to the terminals at Mukilteo and Guemes Island, as well as investments in high-speed, ultra-low wake ferries.

References

{{reflist

External links

U.S. DOT: Urban Partnership Agreement and Congestion Reduction Demonstration Programs95 ExpressMetro Transit: Marq2Mn/DOT: Urban Partnership Agreement
United States Department of Transportation Transportation in Florida Transportation in Minneapolis–Saint Paul Transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Transportation in Washington (state)