U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
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Federal Highway Administration Research and Technology
Coordinating, Developing, and Delivering Highway Transportation Innovations
| REPORT |
| This report is an archived publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link information |
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| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-11-064 Date: November 2011 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-11-064 Date: November 2011 |
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The Federal Highway Administration, in support of the Traffic Analysis and Simulation Pooled Fund Study, initiated this study to identify and address consistency in the selection and use of traffic analysis tools. This document offers recommendations on the management, planning, and conduct of traffic analysis that will promote greater traffic analysis tool consistency over the typical project development life cycle. The key to managing consistency of traffic analyses throughout the various stages of project development is the use of a master plan, which is called the project delivery analysis plan (PDAP) for the purposes of this document. The PDAP describes the project, its purpose, and the objectives of the traffic analysis. It identifies the measures of effectiveness that will be used to evaluate the project and its alternatives, describes the traffic analysis approach (including tools, assumptions, and parameters), identifies risks and contingency plans for dealing with those risks, determines the resource requirements, and lays out the time schedule for the analysis. This guidebook is directed toward professionals operating in State departments of transportation and other agencies responsible for transportation project development and delivery.
Joseph I. Peters, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Operations
Research and Development
Notice
This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.
The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.
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Technical Report Documentation Page
| 1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-11-064 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3 Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
| 4. Title and Subtitle
Guide on the Consistent Application of Traffic Analysis Tools and Methods |
5. Report Date November 2011 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code | ||||
| 7. Author(s)
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8. Performing Organization Report No.
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9. Performing Organization Name and Address Dowling Associates, Inc. |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) |
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| 11. Contract or Grant No.
DTFH61-06-D-00004 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
U.S. Department of Transportation |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Final Report |
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14. Sponsoring Agency Code
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| 15. Supplementary Notes
The contracting officer's technical manager (COTM) was Randall VanGorder, HRTO-20, Office of Operations Research and Development |
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| 16. Abstract
The Federal Highway Administration, in support of the Traffic Analysis and Simulation Pooled Fund Study, initiated this study to identify and address consistency in the selection and use of traffic analysis tools. This report offers recommendations on the management, planning, and conduct of traffic analysis that will promote greater traffic analysis tool consistency over the typical project development life cycle. It is directed toward professionals operating in State departments of transportation and other agencies responsible for transportation project development and delivery. |
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| 17. Key Words
Traffic analysis, simulation, modeling, tool consistency |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. |
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19. Security Classification Unclassified |
20. Security Classification Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages 86 |
22. Price
N/A |
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| Form DOT F 1700.7 | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
*SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with Section 4 of ASTM E380.
(Revised March 2003)
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in support of the Traffic Analysis and Simulation Pooled Fund Study (PFS), initiated this study to identify and address consistency in the selection and use of traffic analysis tools. This document offers recommendations on the management, planning, and conduct of traffic analysis that will promote greater traffic analysis tool consistency over the typical project development life cycle. It is directed toward professionals operating in State departments of transportation and other agencies responsible for transportation project development and delivery.
The purpose of this guidebook is to provide technical advice on the selection and use of traffic analysis tools and methods in a manner that promotes consistency over the course of the project development life cycle. Terminology and processes contained in this guidebook are a composite of the experiences of and approaches used by transportation agencies across the country for instructive and consistency purposes. When using this guidance, individual agencies will need to consider how their own terminology, processes, and procedures correspond to those contained in this document.
A transportation improvement project typically goes through the following stages of development:
In the early stages of project development, relatively little has been defined about the project. Consequently, the analysis has to be relatively broad and comprehensive, with the focus of the analysis increasing as the project and its alternatives are defined in the later stages.
The following categories of traffic analysis tools are available for evaluating a transportation improvement project:(1)
Figure 1 shows the optimal application ranges for each of the traffic analysis tool types. A wide vertical band indicates that the project development stage falls within the range of application for which the tool is best suited. A thin vertical band indicates that the tool can be used for that stage of project development but is less well-suited for that application.
Figure 1. Chart. Traffic analysis tool application ranges in project development.
The key to managing consistency of the traffic analyses throughout the various stages of project development is having a master plan for the analysis that is scaled to the needs of each stage of the process. This plan is the project delivery analysis plan (PDAP) described in chapter 3.
The PDAP is a scalable master scope that describes the project, its purpose, and the objectives of the traffic analysis. It identifies the measures of effectiveness (MOEs) that will be used to evaluate the project and its alternatives. It also describes the traffic analysis approach (including tools, assumptions, and parameters) and identifies risks and contingency plans for dealing with those risks. It determines the resource requirements and lays out the time schedule for the analysis.
The remaining chapters give advice on the contents of the PDAP, as follows:
