U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| Project Information | ||
| Project ID: | FHWA-PROJ-13-0073 | |
| Project Name: | Traffic Bottleneck Identification and Diagnosis, Countermeasure Prioritization, and Innovative Solutions to Local/Systemic Problems | |
| Project Status: | Active | |
| Start Date: | May 23, 2013 | |
| End Date: | February 27, 2016 | |
| Contact Information | ||
| Last Name: | Bared | |
| First Name: | Joe | |
| Telephone: | 202-493-3314 | |
| E-mail: | joe.bared@dot.gov | |
| Office: | Office of Operations Research and Development | |
| Team: | Trans Ops Concepts and Analysis Team [HRDO-20] | |
| Laboratory: | Saxton Transportation Operations Laboratory | |
| Project detail | ||
| Project Description: | In addition to Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications mostly with connected vehicle technologies (e.g., ramp metering, active travel demand management, improved signal coordination), it is our finding that short-term, relatively simple geometric and traffic control innovations continue to relieve bottlenecks significantly in cost-effective ways. However, there is little research that separates systemic causes from operational/localized ones, as they both fall under the umbrella of recurring congestion. The scope of proposed activities is to confirm and/or categorize the approximate percentages or all congestion sources (in rounded numbers). It also includes the development of a new pie chart that identifies proportionate congestion as either freeway or surface streets. Mostly, however, the scope is specifically defined to develop guidance solely for recurring congestion identification, vis-à-vis separating systemic and localized causes. The third step is to recommend how to focus on existing but cost-effective treatments to alleviate these two bottleneck categories and develop corresponding improvement recommendations based on land requirements and benefit/cost analysis. The fourth step is to develop or promote any innovative treatments, or conduct research using traffic simulation and driving simulator studies, and to evaluate performance improvements, feasibility, human factors adjustments, and benefit/cost analysis. Finally, the last step is to develop guidelines that provide design and operational recommendations for low-cost or cost-effective innovative treatments. | |
| Goals: |
The objectives are to develop guidance solely for recurring congestion identification by separating systemic and localized causes; to recommend using existing but cost-effective treatments to alleviate these two bottleneck categories and develop corresponding improvement recommendations based on land requirements and benefit/cost analysis; to develop or promote more innovative treatments, and conduct research using traffic simulation and driving simulator studies; to evaluate performance improvements and develop guidelines that provide design and operational recommendations for low-cost or cost-effective innovative treatments.
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| Product Type: | Research report | |
| Test Methodology: | Statistical approach to diagnosing traffic data. | |
| Partners: | Federal Highway Administration: Office of Operations - Office of Transportation Management; Role(s): Advisory | |
| Expected Benefits: | Guidance on bottleneck identification and diagnosis. Development of innovative and cost-effective near-term solutions. | |
| Deliverables: | Name: Draft guidelines for congestion problem identification. Product Type(s): Research report Description: Prepare a work plan describing the methodology to analyze historical and real-time data, and define bottlenecks or congestion performance. Congestion problems should meet definition requirements. The work plan shall describe how the data will be collected and analyzed to identify congestion conditions. Develop recommendations or guidelines to conduct such problem identification, investigation, diagnosis, and prioritization for local agencies or Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). | |
| FHWA Topics: | Research/Technologies--Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC) | |
| TRT Terms: | Bottlenecks Traffic Congestion Traffic Simulation Highway Operations Research Operations |
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| FHWA Disciplines: | Operations |
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| Subject Areas: | Operations and Traffic Management Research Transportation (General) |
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