Congestion Indicators and Congestion Impacts: A Study on the Relevance of Area-wide Indicators

Congestion indicators for monitoring congestion in road area networks have been devised to use the output of long-term planning models which makes them insensitive to the dynamics of congestion or pollutant emissions. The objective of the present study is to compare the capabilities of different congestion indicators for describing congestion impacts (delays and emissions) considering a dynamic framework analysis. Microsimulation is used for estimating the congestion indicators as well as the congestion impacts in a disaggregated and dynamic mode. The indicators with the best descriptive capabilities are identified. Recommendations about indicators are provided for road practitioners. © 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.