Abstract
Lane management is expected to alleviate traffic congestion and improve mobility on roadways. Previous studies have mainly analyzed the impacts of lane management on the road segment rather than the road network. Because lane management strategies can affect traffic flows in the neighboring traffic regions and the entire road network, it is suitable to assess traffic impacts in the entire road network. This study proposed an analytical framework to evaluate lane management’s impacts and economic effects using location-based data, including road segments, traffic zones near road segments, and the road network. Traffic assignments with estimated origin-destination matrices from location-based data allow spatial and temporal impact analysis of lane management. This study analyzed the contraflow lane with movable median barriers installed at the Alex Fraser Bridge (AFB) in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as a case study for lane management. In terms of traffic characteristics, the results showed that the contraflow lane with movable median barriers contributed significantly to improving the states of traffic flow on the AFB (traffic flow increased about 7.4%, travel speed increased about 48.3%, travel time decreased about 31.8%, and volume/capacity ratio decreased about 19.3% on average). This study showed that the contraflow lane on the AFB improved traffic flow and generated an economic benefit of $1.1 M per year (AFB, $12.7 M; zones near the AFB, ; Vancouver area, ) by estimating the changes in the value of travel time before and after lane management. This study contributes to a better understanding of using location-based data for assessing traffic impact and the economic effect of lane management operations at the network level.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code used during the study were provided by a third party. Direct requests for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments. Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are proprietary or confidential in nature and may only be provided with restrictions.
Acknowledgments
The authors appreciate the data provider (StreetLight) for obtaining the data used in this analysis.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 148 • Issue 12 • December 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 20, 2022
Accepted: Jul 11, 2022
Published online: Sep 22, 2022
Published in print: Dec 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Feb 22, 2023
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