Statewide planning scenario synthesis : transportation congestion measurement and management.

PDFTech ReportKTC-05-32/SPR303-05-IFSPR303Congestion management systemsTraffic congestionTransportation planningMeasurementHighway capacityTravel timeTraffic speedCostsKentuckyUniversity of Kentucky Transportation CenterKreis, DougHowell, BrianO'Connell, LenahanUniversity of Kentucky Transportation CenterKentucky. Transportation CabinetUS Transportation CollectionThis study is a review of current practices in 13 states to: (1) measure traffic congestion and its costs; and (2) manage congestion with programs and techniques that do not involve the building of new highway capacity. In regard to the measures of congestion, the findings suggest two broad conclusions: (a) the most popular measures are not LOS or volume to capacity ratios; but rather the direct measures of either average time to traverse the distance between two points, or the average speed of vehicles. These are sometimes used to construct estimates of delay during peak traffic periods. (b) Five of the 13 states are either using or trying to devise more complex measures of congestion, measures that include estimates of the various costs associated with congestion. Regarding congestion management, most of the 13 states are implementing the 10 congestion management techniques identified by the study. When asked to rank the most effective techniques, the top four were incident management programs, signal coordination, traffic management centers, and access management