Using Simulation to Test Traffic Incident Management Strategies: The Benefits of Preplanning

Abstract

This study tested a dynamic traffic assignment model as a tool for preplanning strategies for managing major freeway incidents. Incidents of various scales and durations were modeled in the northern Chicago, Illinois, highway network, and the impacts of incidents and response actions were measured in lane mile hours of highway links at Level of Service F and spread of congestion to alternate routes around the incident. It was found that the best response action to a given incident scenario was not necessarily intuitive and that implementing the wrong response could worsen congestion on the directly impacted freeway and its surrounding highway network. The simulation model showed that a full closure of the freeway caused congestion to spread to alternate parallel routes around the simulated incident. An event of this scale constitutes a major disruption that may warrant handing off traffic control authority from first responders to a corridor or regional traffic management center. Major arterials accessible from the impacted freeway sometimes need increased capacity to provide access to less congested parallel alternate routes during incidents. The simulation model showed that congestion increases with delayed response, underscoring the benefits of preplanning to speed the implementation of effective incident response actions. Regression analysis using data generated by the simulation demonstrates that incident scale and duration are statistically significant predictors of lane mile hours of congestion in the zone near the incident and on the expressway.