The City of Medicine Hat engaged Associated Engineering to complete several transportation consulting assignments as part of one large transportation project. The assignment included:
- Conversion of the City’s Travel Demand Forecasting Model from the existing Tmodel2 software to the EMME software
- Completion of capacity analyses for fifty intersections throughout the City
- Completion of functional planning studies for five existing corridors in the northwest industrial sector of the City.
The model design used a traditional four step process which includes trip generation/attraction, trip distribution, trip assignment and modal split. The EMME 2 software includes a graphical user interface, network editing tools, visualization and analysis capabilities, and GIS integration capabilities. A model run creates a travel forecast for any land use – network scenario.
Following the successful conversion of the Travel Demand Forecasting Model, the model was utilized to generate traffic volumes for three future horizons; 2007, 75,000-population horizon, and 95,000-population horizon.
In order to review capacity and Level of Service at each population horizon, we completed capacity analyses at fifty intersections within the City. The Synchro 7.0 software was used to interpolate how the operation of individual intersections progresses with the growth of the City and associated network improvements.
An existing conditions assessment was completed at the initial phase of each functional planning study. The existing conditions assessment considered the current roadway geometry and operational, environmental, geotechnical, and stormwater conditions in order to identify deficiencies that need to be improved. A separate report was generated summarizing the results of the existing conditions assessment.