Applying Travel-Time Reliability Measures in Identifying and Ranking Recurrent Freeway Bottlenecks at the Network Level
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 143, Issue 8
Abstract
The primary purpose of this study is to develop a systematic approach to effectively identifying and ranking recurrent freeway bottlenecks using travel-time reliability (TTR) measures. To achieve this goal, three subtasks are undertaken: (1) to identify recurrent freeway bottlenecks at the network level, (2) to rank discerned freeway bottlenecks, and (3) to examine the impacts of different threshold values used in defining TTR measures. Research results suggest that two TTR measures, namely the frequency of congestion (FOC) and planning time index (PTI), are suited to identify and rank recurrent freeway bottlenecks at the network level. A case study is performed to validate the feasibility of the proposed methodology using vehicle probe data collected on four interstate freeways in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 2015. Suggestions about the selection of threshold values in defining FOC and PTI for freeway bottleneck and congestion analysis are also provided. The findings of this study can provide insightful and useful information for traffic engineers and decision makers in identifying recurrent freeway bottlenecks and in developing effective congestion mitigation strategies for planning applications.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the North Carolina Department of Transportation for sponsoring this project. The content of this paper reflects the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein, and do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the sponsoring organization. The vehicle probe speed data and TMC segment information used in this paper were provided by INRIX.
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 143 • Issue 8 • August 2017
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 31, 2016
Accepted: Mar 17, 2017
Published online: Jun 13, 2017
Published in print: Aug 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Nov 13, 2017
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