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 |
 |
| Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-16-055 Date: January 2016 |
Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-16-055 Date: January 2016 |
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Traffic incidents contribute significantly to the deterioration of the level of service of both freeways and arterials. Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs have been introduced worldwide with the aim of mitigating the impact of traffic incidents on safety and roadway performance. These programs support quick incident response, thereby shortening incident duration, and control traffic demand around the incident scene. Some TIM programs can be costly to taxpayers; thus, it is important to evaluate their benefits and determine the associated return on investment. Although benefit-cost (BC) estimation studies have been conducted for numerous TIM programs, these studies employ a wide range of estimation methodologies and monetary equivalent conversion factors. Consequently, resulting BC ratio estimates vary widely and have been shown to be sensitive to these choices. Moreover, these studies can be quite costly. Therefore, this report develops a TIM-BC tool with standardized methodology that can be universally and equitably employed in BC ratio estimation for different TIM programs, which is essential to creating consistency and, therefore, greater confidence in the validity of the results. With access to the methodology in the form of a simple-to-use, less data-intensive tool, TIM programs and taxpayers alike can benefit from cost-effective evaluations.
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Technical Report Documentation Page
| 1. Report No.
FHWA-HRT-16-055 |
2. Government Accession No. | 3 Recipient's Catalog No. | ||
| 4. Title and Subtitle
User-Friendly Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Program Benefit-Cost Estimation Tool |
5. Report Date January 2016 |
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| 6. Performing Organization Code | ||||
| 7. Author(s)
Jiaqi Ma, Elise Miller-Hooks, Mersedeh Tariverdi, Taylor Lochrane, Fang Zhou, David Prentiss, Kathleen Hudgins, Paul Jodoin, Zhitong Huang, Margaret Hailemariam |
8. Performing Organization Report No.
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9. Performing Organization Name and Address Leidos, Inc. |
10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) |
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| 11. Contract or Grant No.
DTFH61-12-D-00020 |
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| 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address
Office of Operations Research and Development |
13. Type of Report and Period Covered
Project Final Report |
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14. Sponsoring Agency Code HRDO-20 |
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| 15. Supplementary Notes
The Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR): Taylor Lochrane |
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| 16. Abstract
Traffic incidents contribute significantly to the deterioration of the level of service of both freeways and arterials. Traffic Incident Management (TIM) programs have been introduced worldwide with the aim of mitigating the impact of traffic incidents on safety and roadway performance. These programs support quick incident response, thereby shortening incident duration, and control traffic demand around the incident scene. Some TIM programs can be costly to taxpayers, thus, it is important to evaluate their benefits and determine the associated return on investment. Although benefit-cost (BC) estimation studies have been conducted for numerous TIM programs, these studies employ a wide range of estimation methodologies and monetary equivalent conversion factors. Consequently, resulting BC ratio estimates vary widely and have been shown to be sensitive to these choices. Moreover, these studies can be quite costly. This report develops a TIM-BC tool with standardized methodology that can be universally and equitably employed in BC ratio estimation for different TIM programs, which is essential to creating consistency and, therefore, greater confidence in the validity of the results. With access to the methodology in the form of a simple-to-use, less data-intensive tool, TIM programs and taxpayers alike can benefit from cost-effective evaluations. A New York case study compares the effectiveness of implementing three selected TIM strategies, namely: safety service patrol, driver removal laws, and dispatch colocation. The case study also helps in understanding the need for a standardized BC ratio estimation tool and the effectiveness of the developed TIM-BC tool. |
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| 17. Key Words
research, safety, traffic incident management, safety service patrol, benefit cost analysis |
18. Distribution Statement
No restrictions. |
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19. Security Classification Unclassified |
20. Security Classification Unclassified |
21. No. of Pages 59 |
22. Price | |
| Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) | Reproduction of completed page authorized |
SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors
LIST OF FIGURES
| AIC | Akaike information criterion |
| ARL | Authority removal laws |
| BC | Benefit-Cost |
| BIC | Bayesian information criterion |
| CAD | Computer aided dispatch |
| CHART | Coordinatated Highways Action Response Team |
| COM | Component object module |
| DC | Dispatch colocation |
| DMS | Dynamic message signs |
| DOT | Department of Transportation |
| D/P-E | Duration/proportion-based estimation |
| DRL | Driver removal laws |
| EMS | Emergency medical services |
| FHWA | Federal Highway Administration |
| FFS | Free-flow speed |
| HAR | Highway advisory radio |
| HDV | Heavy-duty vehicles |
| HOT | High occupancy toll |
| HOV | High occupancy vehicle |
| ITS | Intelligent transportation systems |
| LBD | Look back distance |
| LDV | Light-duty vehicles |
| MOE | Measures of effectivenss |
| NIMS/ICS | National Incident Management System/National Incident Command System |
| NUG | National unified goal |
| PTSA | Preestablished Towing Service Agreements |
| SDRF | Safety Distance Reduced Factor |
| SHRP2 | Second Strategic Highway Research Program |
| SQCG | Shared quick-clearance goals |
| SSP | Safety Service Patrols |
| SSP-BC | Safety Service Patrols Benefit-Cost |
| ST | SHRP2 Training |
| TAC | Total annual cost |
| TDc | Total travel delay of cars |
| TDt | Total travel delay of trucks |
| TIM | Traffic incident management |
| TIM-BC | Traffic incident management benefit-cost |
| TMC | Transportatioan management centers |
| TOC | Traffic operations centers |
| TTF | TIM Task Forces |
| Vplph | Vehicles per lane per hour |
| VMT | Vehicle miles traveled |
