Regional Data Archiving and Management for Northeast Illinois

This project studies the feasibility and implementation options for establishing a regional data archiving system to help monitor and manage traffic operations and planning for the northeastern Illinois region. It aims to provide a clear guidance to the regional transportation agencies, from both technical and business perspectives, about building such a comprehensive transportation information system. Several implementation alternatives are identified and analyzed. This research is carried out in three phases. In the first phase, existing documents related to ITS deployments in the broader Chicago area are summarized, and a thorough review is conducted of similar systems across the country. Various stakeholders are interviewed to collect information on all data elements that they store, including the format, system, and granularity. Their perception of a data archive system, such as potential benefits and costs, is also surveyed. In the second phase, a conceptual design of the database is developed. This conceptual design includes system architecture, functional modules, user interfaces, and examples of usage. In the last phase, the possible business models for the archive system to sustain itself are reviewed. We estimate initial capital and recurring operational/maintenance costs for the system based on realistic information on the hardware, software, labor, and resource requirements. We also identify possible revenue opportunities. A few implementation options for the archive system are summarized in this report; namely: 1. System hosted by a partnering agency 2. System contracted to a university 3. System contracted to a national laboratory 4. System outsourced to a service provider The costs, advantages and disadvantages for each of these recommended options are also provided.ICT-R27-22published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

A Comparative Evaluation Of Fdsa,ga, And Sa Non-linear Programming Algorithms And Development Of System-optimal Methodology For Dynamic Pricing On I-95 Express

As urban population across the globe increases, the demand for adequate transportation grows. Several strategies have been suggested as a solution to the congestion which results from this high demand outpacing the existing supply of transportation facilities. High –Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes have become increasingly more popular as a feature on today’s highway system. The I-95 Express HOT lane in Miami Florida, which is currently being expanded from a single Phase (Phase I) into two Phases, is one such HOT facility. With the growing abundance of such facilities comes the need for indepth study of demand patterns and development of an appropriate pricing scheme which reduces congestion. This research develops a method for dynamic pricing on the I-95 HOT facility such as to minimize total travel time and reduce congestion. We apply non-linear programming (NLP) techniques and the finite difference stochastic approximation (FDSA), genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) stochastic algorithms to formulate and solve the problem within a cell transmission framework. The solution produced is the optimal flow and optimal toll required to minimize total travel time and thus is the system-optimal solution. We perform a comparative evaluation of FDSA, GA and SA non-linear programming algorithms used to solve the NLP and the ANOVA results show that there are differences in the performance of the NLP algorithms in solving this problem and reducing travel time. We then conclude by demonstrating that econometric iv forecasting methods utilizing vector autoregressive (VAR) techniques can be applied to successfully forecast demand for Phase 2 of the 95 Express which is planned for 201

Measuring the Success of a Transportation Project - Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) Case Study

abstract: Measuring the success of a transportation project as it is envisioned in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and is detailed in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is not part of any current planning process, for a post construction analysis may have political consequences for the project participants, would incur additional costs, and may be difficult to define in terms of scope. With local, state and federal budgets shrinking, funding sources are demanding that the performance of a project be evaluated and project stakeholders be held accountable. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) developed a framework that allows transportation agencies to customize their reporting so that a project's performance can be measured. In the case of the Red Mountain Freeway, the selected performance measure allows for comparing the population forecasts, the traffic volumes, and the project costs defined in the final EIS to actual population growth, actual average annual daily traffic (ADT), and actual project costs obtained from census data, the City of Mesa, and contractor bids, respectively. The results show that population projections for both Maricopa County and the City of Mesa are within less than half a percent of the actual annual population growth. The traffic analysis proved more difficult due to inconsistencies within the EIS documents, variations in the local arterials used to produce traffic volume, and in the projection time-spans. The comparison for the total increase in traffic volume generated a difference of 11.34 percent and 89.30 percent. An adjusted traffic volume equal to all local arterials and US 60 resulted in a difference of 40 percent between the projected and actual ADT values. As for the project cost comparison, not only were the costs within the individual documents inconsistent, but they were underestimated by as much as 75 percent. Evaluating the goals as described in an EIS document using the performance measure guidelines provided by the TRB may provide the tool that can help promote conflict resolution for political issues that arise, streamline the planning process, and measure the performance of the transportation system, so that lessons learned can be applied to future projects.Dissertation/ThesisM.U.E.P. Geography 201

Modeling the relationship between air quality and intelligent transportation system (ITS) with artificial neural networks.

Environmental or air quality impacts of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are very difficult to measure. Some researchers have attempted to quantify the effects of individual ITS application on emissions; yet, the effects of ITS as a whole on ambient air quality have not been investigated. The objective of this research was to model the relationship between ITS and ambient air quality. The multiple Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) training with the data yielded a model for predicting the air quality. In addition, the ANN made the measurement of the effect of ITS on air quality possible. Data pertaining to sixty US cities (urbanized area) were used for this research. Input variables used were related to transportation and local characteristics, and ITS applications. Output variables were the annual average concentrations of CO, Ozone, and N02 in ambient air. The K-fold cross validation technique was used to train the ANN. The results of ANN model were compared with that of a Multiple Regression (MR) model showing the supremacy of ANN over MR. The ANN model results show that the Mean Absolute Errors (MAEs) in prediction vary from 5 to 20 %. This variance is justified since the factors related with industries, which contribute significantly to air pollution, have not been taken into consideration in this study. There were some unusual findings: in contrast to the common assumptions, N02 concentration increases with ITS intensity, and Ground Level Ozone concentration, in ambient air, seemed to be more transportation-dependent as compared with that of CO and N02• A recommendation for further research on this topic is to include more input variables, especially those which are relatcd with industries, to improve the accuracy of prediction. Scientific experimentations have also been recommended to corroborate the unusual findings

Dedicated truck facilities as a solution to capacity and safety issues on rural interstate highway corridors

This thesis identifies the safety and operational benefits to constructing dedicated truck facilities on rural interstate corridors. The Interstate 80 corridor from the Illinois border to Altoona, Iowa is the case study corridor where crash data and commodity flows were analyzed to determine the potential benefits to constructing a dedicated truck facility. Literature was reviewed to determine the designs of other truck only facilities and the benefits that dedicated truck lanes may bring to the freight industry. The literature found truck only lanes to be most feasible when trucks constitute at least 30 percent of the vehicle mix, peak hour volumes exceed 1,800 vehicles per lane hour, and off-peak volumes exceed 1,200 vehicles per lane hour. Another study found the I-80 corridor in Iowa provided significant benefits to the operability and safety of the corridor if a dedicated truck facility is constructed along the corridor. While most studies have considered the construction of an additional lane on the freeways and designating it for trucks only, this thesis considers the construction of a separate four lane, limited access facility for trucks. The 1-80 corridor was analyzed with the Highway Economic Requirements Software-State edition (HERS-ST) to measure the performance before and after trucks was removed from the mainline. Several benefit to cost analyses was calculated outside of HERS-ST to determine the feasibility of constructing dedicated truck lanes. Sensitivity analyses were conducted within the benefit to cost analyses to determine the benefits of diverting 100 percent, 75 percent, 50 percent and 25 percent of trucks to a dedicated truck facility. Through this analysis, transportation engineers and planners can understand the benefits of dedicated truck facilities on rural interstate highway corridors

UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF INCIDENTS AND INCIDENT MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS ON FREEWAY MOBILITY AND SAFETY

Despite significant technological achievements over past decades, and institutional support for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), it is not possible to prevent all traffic incidents. Numerous incidents occur every day along U.S. freeways and traffic incident management (TIM) programs have been proposed and implemented to mitigate their impact. This dissertation proposes various tools to aid in the evaluation of proposed TIM programs, contributing, thus, to the general study area of freeway incident management. In addition, moving violations specific to concurrent flow lane operations are conceived as a type of transient incident. Their impact on mobility and safety is considered. Techniques to address four key areas are proposed. First, a methodology that considers the dynamics of incident impact given a primary incident's properties and prevailing traffic conditions for identifying secondary incidents from a database is proposed. This method is computationally efficient and overcomes deficiencies of other existing techniques, with utility in any context in which the study of secondary incidents is warranted. A three-stage time-saving process is developed for conducting TIM program benefit evaluations. The process aids in sampling a relatively small set of good quality incident scenarios that can represent historical incident data and overcomes the computational burden encountered when evaluating TIM program's benefit by simulation. Modeling techniques are proposed for simulating violations associated with the operation of concurrent flow lanes. Results from a case study show significant impact to mobility that grows nonlinearly with increasing violation rate. Such illegal traffic maneuvers contribute to increased speed variation and congestion, ultimately affecting safety. Finally, diversion strategies that exploit existing capacity of managed lanes for the purpose of reducing the impact of an incident in the general purpose lanes are evaluated. Simulation modeling methodologies were developed for modeling freeway incidents and studied diversion strategy implementations. Experimental findings indicate benefits of diversion that are contrary to qualitatively developed recommendations in the literature

Deconstructing Elevated Expressways: An Evaluation of the Proposal to Remove the Interstate 10 Claiborne Avenue Expressway in New Orleans, Louisiana

With the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the interstate system included an elevated segment of Interstate 10 constructed over Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. The I-10 Claiborne Expressway provided access to downtown by destroying a tree-lined boulevard and contributing to the decline of an African American neighborhood. In 2005, after hurricane Katrina, several community-based plans proposed that the elevated I-10 Claiborne Expressway be removed. This thesis compares the removal proposals to the decision making processes of five case cities that have removed expressways. Necessary conditions were applied to all expressway removal cases. Currently, the I-10 Claiborne Expressway decision making process lacks defined structural integrity and safety concerns, a reduction in the value of freeways by power brokers, documented support of the business community and “selling†of idea by a public agency. These conditions were necessary to the decision to remove expressways in all case cities

Issues Related to the Emergence of the Information Superhighway and California Societal Changes, IISTPS Report 96-4

The Norman Y. Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies (IISTPS) at San José State University (SJSU) conducted this project to review the continuing development of the Internet and the Information Superhighway. Emphasis was placed on an examination of the impact on commuting and working patterns in California, and an analysis of how public transportation agencies, including Caltrans, might take advantage of the new communications technologies. The document reviews the technology underlying the current Internet “structure” and examines anticipated developments. It is important to note that much of the research for this limited-scope project was conducted during 1995, and the topic is so rapidly evolving that some information is almost automatically “dated.” The report also examines how transportation agencies are basically similar in structure and function to other business entities, and how they can continue to utilize the emerging technologies to improve internal and external communications. As part of a detailed discussion of specific transportation agency functions, it is noted that the concept of a “Roundtable Forum,” growing out of developments in Concurrent Engineering, can provide an opportunity for representatives from multiple jurisdictions to utilize the Internet for more coordinated decision-making. The report also included an extensive analysis of demographic trends in California in recent years, such as commute and recreational activities, and identifies how the emerging technologies may impact future changes

Investigating the Effect of Freeway Congestion Thresholds on Decision-making Inputs

Congestion threshold is embedded in the congestion definition. Two basic approaches exist in current practice for setting the congestion threshold. One common approach uses the “free-flow” or unimpeded conditions as the congestion threshold. Another approach uses target or “acceptable” conditions. The limited research that has been conducted on the congestion threshold issue focuses on operational problems or policy debates, but relatively little investigation of the effect on decision-making for transportation investment and resource allocation. This research investigated the differences inherent in the threshold choices using detailed freeway data from seven metropolitan areas. Congestion performance measures of delay per mile, Travel Time Index and Planning Time Index were evaluated. This research specifically examined: 1) the ranking values of congestion measure for different congestion thresholds under a variety of real-world travel time distributions, 2) the relationship between change of congestion threshold and change of performance measure, and 3) the appropriateness of using speed limit as a congestion threshold choice by evaluating the peak and off-peak average speed changes in relation to a speed limit change in Houston, Texas. The rankings of congestion measures for freeway segments hold steady across the congestion thresholds ranging from 60 mph to 30 mph and across the congestion measures. From an investment point of view, the congestion threshold speed used is not a concern for funding allocation. The relationship between the delay values for an alternative threshold and the 60 mph threshold has a quadratic form. As the alternative threshold decreases further away from 60 mph, the increment is larger. The more congested a section is, the less the threshold affects measured congestion. For very congested sections, most of the delay is associated with speeds below 30 mph. The posted speed limit affects travel time distribution in the free flow driving condition but does not affect travel time distribution during congested driving conditions. However, if the speed limit or a percentage of speed limit is used to estimate the congestion, the amount of congestion may be underestimated because the free flow speed is higher than the speed limit

Deconstructing Elevated Expressways: An Evaluation of the Proposal to Remove the Interstate 10 Claiborne Avenue Expressway in New Orleans, Louisiana

With the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the interstate system included an elevated segment of Interstate 10 constructed over Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. The I-10 Claiborne Expressway provided access to downtown by destroying a tree-lined boulevard and contributing to the decline of an African American neighborhood. In 2005, after hurricane Katrina, several community-based plans proposed that the elevated I-10 Claiborne Expressway be removed. This thesis compares the removal proposals to the decision making processes of five case cities that have removed expressways. Necessary conditions were applied to all expressway removal cases. Currently, the I-10 Claiborne Expressway decision making process lacks defined structural integrity and safety concerns, a reduction in the value of freeways by power brokers, documented support of the business community and “selling†of idea by a public agency. These conditions were necessary to the decision to remove expressways in all case cities