Evaluation Framework for Rigorous Exploration of Potential Benefits of Integrated Corridor Management

Abstract

Highway congestion continues to be a major problem in urban transportation, and the search for feasible mitigation measures continues to evolve with the advancement in technology and a better understanding of traveler behavior. Integrated corridor management (ICM) has recently emerged as a potential mitigation measure; however, for this potential to be fully harnessed, research into the ways to identify ICM strategies that best fit the particular circumstances of a transportation corridor is necessary. This study proposed an ICM evaluation framework that was based on which strategies critical to congestion mitigation in a corridor could be identified. The proposed evaluation framework was demonstrated by using the I-95–I-395 ICM corridor in northern Virginia, where the effectiveness of selected ICM strategies was tested under both incident and nonincident conditions through a microscopic simulation model. An analysis of the simulation results identified variable speed limits, an increase in transit and parking capacities, high-occupancy vehicle–high-occupancy vehicle bypass lanes, and high-occupancy toll lanes as the most beneficial ICM strategies for both incident and nonincident traffic conditions. However, the benefits of ICM determined through the strategies modeled were confirmed to be more significant under incident conditions than nonincident conditions. As a result of the ICM strategies implemented, an average flow increment in the corridor of 6,860 persons per hour (+ 37.8%) was experienced during incident conditions compared with 3,286 persons per hour (+ 14.4%) for nonincident conditions. Improvements were also observed in average travel times and vehicle emissions.