A policy-oriented method in prioritizing innovative traffic facilities

Questions about location, method, or effectiveness are the prime focuses of academic research in traffic improvement project. However, economic concerns such as budget, political concerns such as public acceptance, administrative concerns such as suitability to engineering code, and product concerns such as convenience in installation are often another aspect of importance when new creations of traffic facility are planned for implementation. The whole of this research was conducted when the author of this paper served as the transportation commissioner in the government of Tainan City in Taiwan, the fourth largest city in Taiwan. A three-staged fussy multi-criteria objective method was employed in this study. Twenty-two members of high to middle ranked government officials from different cities, elected city council members, product providers, and academic researchers were invited to review those factors in prioritizing innovative traffic facilities which are aimed to solve traffic congestion or safety problem before mass installation. The conclusion of this research reveals that the concerned factors can be arranged in the following order 1. effectiveness, 2. cost and financial resource, 3. location and environment, 4. product capability, 5. possible political concerns, and lastly, 6. administrative endeavor. After completion of the criteria evaluation, 5 kinds of innovative facilities that were experimentally installed while the author served in Tainan city were reviewed. They include flexible surface warning post, soft road hump, overhead traveler speed display, count down pedestrian cross light, and traffic red light count down display. Therefore the main theme of this paper is to present a thorough thought to screen traffic improvement facilities reflecting the view of the general public. The political concerns that a decision-maker would face and how to take it into consideration is also discussed.