Exploring Operating Speeds on Urban Arterials Using Floating Car Data: Case Study in Shanghai
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 140, Issue 9
Abstract
Urban arterials in Shanghai usually have high intersection densities, which can lead to frequent and severe congestion. Research in this area of study focuses on urban arterial operating speed and its relationship with road geometry, traffic control, and traffic volume, and more study is needed before remedies to the congestion problems can be identified. In Shanghai, an opportunity exists to investigate urban arterial operating speed by accessing continuously updated global positioning system (GPS) data from taxis, hereafter called floating car data (FCD). With more than 50,000 taxis equipped with GPS running in the Shanghai road network, it is feasible to acquire comprehensive, citywide arterial speed measurements throughout the network. In this study, 45 arterials in Shanghai, which comprised of 177 two-direction segments bounded by signalized intersections, were selected for study. GPS data from taxis were captured during peak and off-peak hours to enable the calculation of the mean operating speed for each selected segment. Information of road geometry, traffic control, and traffic volume data was also acquired to examine their influence on operating speed. Multilevel linear regression models were utilized to analyze operating speed with the arterial level’s unobserved heterogeneity accounted for as well. It was identified that roadway design variables, including segment length, number of lanes, and horizontal degree of curvature, left-turn lane types, and presence of median along with saturation degree, are all significantly related to the operating speed. The results of this study shed some light on roadway design, roadway improvement, and traffic management.
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Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the comments and suggestions of several anonymous reviewers. This study was jointly sponsored by the Chinese National Science Foundation (51008230), the program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0387), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities project.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 140 • Issue 9 • September 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 19, 2012
Accepted: Mar 12, 2014
Published online: May 21, 2014
Published in print: Sep 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 21, 2014
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