A PC-Based Decision Tool for Roadway Incident Management

Abstract

A quick-response PC tool has been developed to address a number of crucial transportation needs following major road incidents or urban disasters. Known as TEMPO (Transportation Emergency Management of Post-Incident Operations), the tool is capable of instantaneously identifying near-optimal traffic-diversion strategies around disruptions in an urban traffic network. TEMPO utilizes heuristic approaches to estimating the origin-destination (O-D) of the traffic on the closed links and reassigning the estimated O-D to the remainder of the network. This article describes the following features of TEMPO: (1) the GIS-based data structure that allows graphic user interaction and network editing, including closed street links, changes in number of lanes, cordoned off areas, changes in street directionality, speed limits, and parking regulations, and (2) the algorithm for traffic diversion around the incident based on cordoning the affected region around the closure, estimation of the O-D matrix for the traffic on the closed links, and reassignment of the O-D to the network. Finally, a simulation-based calibration procedure is conducted to compare the TEMPO results with those generated by a popular planning software, TRANPLAN. Thirty-three incident scenarios in a generic test network are simulated by both TEMPO and TRANPLAN, and the results are compared statistically.