Operational and Economical Analysis of Access Management

2018Final ReportPDFTech ReportFHWA-SC-18-08SPR No. 715Access control (Transportation)Alternatives analysisDrivewaysEconomic analysisIntersectionsLiterature reviewsMediansState of the practiceSurveysTraffic delaysTraffic simulationTravel timeAccess ManagementEconomicOperationalImpact StudyUnited StatesUnited States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Research, Development, and TechnologyChowdhury, MashrurHuynh, Nathan N.Khan, Sakib MahmudShiri, SamanehBrunk, KatherineMitchell, JoshuaTorkjazi, MohammadKhan, Md ZadidClemson University. Glenn Department of Civil EngineeringSouth Carolina. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Materials and ResearchUS Transportation CollectionThe primary goal of this study was to analyze the operational and economic effects of access management strategies in South Carolina. This study investigated existing access management strategies practiced by different U.S. states through a review of literature, a nationwide survey, and a follow-up phone interview. Four access management strategies were analyzed for corridor-wide improvement: (1) driveway consolidation, (2) providing sufficient corner clearance distance from an intersection, (3) access restriction near signalized intersections, and (4) raised median implementation. In addition, one access management strategy (i.e., directional median opening) was analyzed for spot improvement. Each of the access management alternatives was evaluated in terms of travel time, number of stops, delay, and stopped delay using microscopic traffic simulation. Analyses conducted in this study indicated that the effectiveness of access management strategies were site-specific. However, the driveway consolidation strategy yielded a consistent improvement on almost all study corridors in terms of travel time. For the economic analysis, first, the perception of customers and businesses located along corridors with raised medians were surveyed. Then, the actual economic impact was examined and analyzed using a post-facto technique. Economic analyses indicated that the sales volume decrease of the affected businesses was similar to that of businesses in the control group. This finding suggests that the installed raised median was not the reason the affected businesses experienced a reduction in sales volume. The local and regional macroeconomics may have contributed to the decrease in sales volume of the affected businesses and their competitors. Based on this study\u2019s findings, provisions are suggested for the SCDOT Access and Roadside Management Strategies (ARMS) Manual.85