A PILOT APPLICATION STUDY OF CORRIDOR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Abstract

The need for effective multimodal performance indicators (or measures) is becoming increasingly important for adequate planning in all sizes of transportation environments, including small and medium-size communities. These measures are essential for several reasons. First, an initial determination of performance by measuring existing conditions indicates the degree of needed improvements. Second, after improvements are implemented, measurement of their performance is often required. Third, such measures are beneficial for measuring roadway improvements examined within the context of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA21). Finally, multimodal measures can be used to monitor the performance of the transportation system over time by examining changes in performance from an established base year. The purpose of this paper is to report on the testing of selected multimodal corridor performance measures for a small and medium-size area, including an evaluation of the amount and cost of required data. These measures are either based on corridor volume to indicate quantity of travel, or on time to indicate quality. Measures of corridor quantity include person throughput, vehicle miles of travel, and average vehicle occupancy. Measures of quality include average travel time, average travel speed, density, and percent time heavily congested. The measures are developed and tested within a 5-mile segment along I-95 in the City of Hollywood (population of 127,000 in 1997), located in Broward County in southeast Florida. While this city is surrounded by a much larger developed area, the test area serves the purpose of illustrating the applicability of the selected performance measures as well as data collection and cost elements for a small and medium-size are. The corridor also contains a commuter train service (Tri-Rail) that is operated by the Tri-County Commuter Rail Authority. Several types of highway and transit data were collected along the corridor. One key concern regarding the application of these measures in small and medium-size areas is the cost and method of data collection. This is because some measures may require new data that may be difficult or expensive to obtain, resulting in an extra financial burden on the smaller urban area where the competition for scarce tax or other revenue resources is high. This concern is addressed and several inferences regarding data collection and system utilization are made from this study. The results presented in this paper can be extended to apply to several classes of roadways/transportation corridors, and should benefit those responsible for the implementation of transportation corridor improvements in small and medium-size areas.