Methodology to Evaluate Active Transportation and Demand Management Strategies

This paper describes a methodology for predicting the impacts of active transportation and demand management (ATDM) measures on highway performance that can be applied using either microsimulation or Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) analysis techniques.Active transportation and demand management (ATDM) is a comprehensive approach to facility management and operation that seeks to increase facility productivity by proactively balancing supply and demand to avoid or delay facility breakdown. Examples of ATDM measures include: adaptive ramp metering, congestion pricing, speed harmonization, traveler information systems, and adaptive traffic signal control systems. Incident management and work zone management programs may employ one or more of these ATDM measures.The proposed ATDM analysis methodology is employed as a “wrapper” to a “core” analysis tool, such as the HCM or microsimulation. The core analysis tool is applied several times to a set of demand/capacity scenarios. The demand/capacity scenarios are developed based on observations of annual fluctuations in weekday peak period demands and capacities for the facility. The scenario results are then combined according to their probability of occurrence in order to predict the full-year peak period performance of the street, highway, or freeway facility.The application of the methodology is illustrated on a real-world freeway facility. The Highway Capacity Manual FREEVAL procedure, the selected “core” analysis tool, was adapted to test ramp metering, HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes, and HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes within the ATDM evaluation methodology. FREEVAL was applied to each of several demand/capacity scenarios and the results combined into an estimate of average performance improvements for each ATDM measure. The predicted facility performance improvements were compared to a before/after field studies reported in the literature. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.