Estimation of Road User Costs for Work Zones in Data-Limited or Time-Constrained Environments
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
This paper considers the problem of estimating road user costs (RUCs), such as travel time and delays, for roadway construction projects under time and data limitations. RUCs measure the mobility impacts of construction work zones on public roads. RUC metrics are typically used in construction phases to determine the project’s incentives and disincentives. However, determining RUC can be challenging due to scarce traffic data availability, incomplete construction plans, and limited time to conduct analysis. In this paper, we use traffic microsimulation to estimate the RUC for each hour of a typical 24-h day using 11 construction cases in Dallas, Texas. Our primary contribution includes developing relationships between peak-hour RUC measures with respect to the total daily values. Such relationships would allow an estimation of the full day RUC based only on the analysis of the peak hour. The main results suggest that the peak-hour travel time as a fraction of the daily value is, on average, 8.2%, comparable to typical percentages of the peak-hour traffic volumes. Furthermore, the models for predictive relationships using construction scenario demand and capacity show high correlation coefficients, presenting a potential for the development of such relationships for roadway construction projects.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Dallas District for sponsoring this work.
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Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • March 2021
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 27, 2020
Accepted: Sep 14, 2020
Published online: Dec 26, 2020
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: May 26, 2021
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