Evaluating Active Traffic Management (ATM) Strategies under Non-Recurring Congestion: Simulation-Based with Benefit Cost Analysis Case Study

Siham G. Farrag, Fatma Outay, Ansar Ul-Haque Yasar and Moulay Youssef El-Hansali
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Siham G. Farrag: Transportation Research Institute (IMOB), Universiteit Hasselt, 3590 Hasselt, Belgium
Fatma Outay: College of Technological Innovation, Zayed University, Dubai 19282, UAE
Ansar Ul-Haque Yasar: Transportation Research Institute (IMOB), Universiteit Hasselt, 3590 Hasselt, Belgium
Moulay Youssef El-Hansali: Transportation Research Institute (IMOB), Universiteit Hasselt, 3590 Hasselt, Belgium

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Dynamic hard shoulder running and ramp closure are two active traffic management (ATM) strategies that are used to alleviate highway traffic congestion. This study aims to evaluate the effects of these two strategies on congested freeways under non-recurring congestion. The study’s efforts can be considered in two parts. First, we performed a detailed microsimulation analysis to quantify the potential benefits of these two ATM strategies in terms of safety, traffic operation, and environmental impact. Second, we evaluated the implementation feasibility of these two strategies. The simulation results indicated that the implementation of the hard shoulder showed a 50%–57% reduction in delay, a 41%–44% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions, and a 15%–18% increase in bottleneck throughput. By contrast, the implementation of ramp closure showed a 20%–34% decrease in travel time, a 6%–9% increase in bottleneck throughput, and an 18%–32% reduction in fuel consumption and emissions. Eventually, both strategies were found to be economically feasible.

Keywords: dynamic hard shoulder; ramp closure; traffic incident management (TIM); ITS; VISSIM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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