Evaluating Alternative Operations Strategies to Improve Travel Time ...

SHRP 2 L11: Final Appendices
Strategy: 2.3. Pre-trip Information
Category: 2. Information Collection and Dissemination
TREATMENTS AND IMPACTS:
National Traffic and Road Closure
• Mobility: A simulation study in the Washington, D.C. area found that regular users of pre-trip traveler information reduced
travelers’ frequency of early and late arrivals by 56 and 52 percent, respectively. (5)
• Efficiency: Modeling studies in Detroit, Michigan and Seattle, Washington have shown slight improvements in corridor capacity
with the provision of traveler information (5).
• Energy/Environment: In Boston, Massachusetts, a modeling study estimated that changes in travel behavior due to better traveler
information would result in a 25 percent reduction in volatile organic compounds, a 1.5 percent decline in nitrogen oxides, and a
33 percent decrease in carbon monoxide (5).
• Customer Satisfaction: During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, a survey about the CommuterLink Web
site showed that 41 percent of visitors and 70 percent of residents were aware of the Web site. Overall, 98 percent of visitors and
97 percent of residents who used the Web site said it worked well for them (5).
Planned Special Events
• Mobility: Dynamic Message Signs (DMS ) and Highway Advisory Radio (HAR) have been used by the Kansas Highway Patrol
and the Kansas DOT to manage events at the 75,000-seat Kansas Speedway on the west side of Kansas City. For three major events
in 2001, traveler information technology was used in conjunction with standard traffic control items such as cones, barrels, and
signs. The traveler information consisted of three "Smart Zones" that integrate DMS, detection devices, and surveillance cameras as
well as 12 portable DMS and four HAR transmitters. During the first race weekend in June 2001, with approximately 45,000 fans,
no significant delays entering the facility due to traffic congestion were reported. During the second event of the season in July, no
significant delays due to ingress and egress of vehicles were reported. At the third event of the season, the NASCAR weekend,
traffic was expected to be at its highest levels and to suffer significant delays. With over an hour before the race started, all
roadways leading into the Kansas Speedway were at free-flow conditions (20).
• Customer Satisfaction: Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine is one of the most visited National Parks in the summer season.
The Acadia National Park, Maine DOT and other local organizations, has tested traveler information in the form of real-time bus
departure signs and on-board bus announcements and real-time parking information on message boards. Both bus information
systems aimed at having visitors use the free bus system called Island Explorer. In a survey of visitors in 2002, more than two-
ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION AND QUANTITATIVE BENEFITS OF TRAVEL-TIME RELIABILITY STRATEGIES Page F-22