Real time driver information for congestion management.

PDFTech ReportFHWA/LA.08/543Real time informationTraffic congestionCongestion management systemsTraffic dataData collectionDriver information systemsInformation disseminationState of the practiceAdvanced traffic management systemsCase studiesLouisianaLouisiana Transportation Research CenterIshak, SherifOsman, OsamaThapa, RajuJenkins, SyndneyLouisiana State University. Dept. of Civil and Environmental EngineeringUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationUS Transportation CollectionTraffic demand in the U.S. has grown substantially over the past few years because of the increase in population andurbanization in large cities. This causes traffic congestion to spread out over U.S. highways and arterials, and subsequentlyleads to deterioration in traffic networks in terms of operation, safety, and productivity. Therefore, congestion managementstrategies have become essential for addressing safety and operational problems. Recently, active traffic management (ATM)strategies have been recognized as efficient methods for managing widespread congestion, provided that a proper managementstrategy is identified and implemented. Any ATM strategy requires a systematic process that should work in a specificsequence starting from getting information from a congested road segment to dissemination of relevant information totravelers to help relieve congestion. This process starts with collecting traffic data from the roadways, screening the collecteddata to remove redundancies and erroneous data, synthesizing useful traffic information, and finally disseminating suchinformation to travelers in real time. Based on the type of delivered information, travelers may alter their trip decision in termsof departure time, mode choice, and route selection in order to avoid congestion.This report presents a review of the state-of-the-art and state-of-practice methods used to execute the steps taken to deliveraccurate real time traffic information to travelers and the impact such information has on congestion management. The reportsheds light on different technologies and methodologies used for data collection, screening, and dissemination in the UnitedStates. In addition, the report highlights the impact of disseminated information on drivers\ue2\u20ac\u2122 behavior and transportationnetwork operation and safety. More so, the report presents few case studies on different ATM strategies and shows the gainedbenefits from using these strategies