Abstract
The need to rehabilitate interstate highways and bridges will increase tremendously in the next decades. Due to traffic restrictions imposed during construction, these rehabilitation activities will cause major disruptions in existing traffic patterns. In order to develop mitigation strategies to reduce such travel impacts, reliable forecasts of likely travel pattern changes would be beneficial. In this paper, we examine the suitability of using an equilibrium traffic assignment model to predict the impacts of a major highway reconstruction project. A case study of travel impacts during reconstruction of I-376, the Parkway East, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is made to validate the adequacy of the network assignment model. Results are compared with actual volume counts collected during periods with and without traffic restrictions. The model produced estimates of link volumes that were, on average, from 16% to 28% different from the observed link counts along two screenlines. Large discrepancies with some of the counts could be explained in part by aberrations in the observed data or in the network model's structure. A sketch-planning analysis is also performed, and the results are compared with those from the network assignment model. The network assignment model is also used to predict the impacts of a hypothetical reconstruction scenario in which the Parkway East is totally closed during its reconstruction.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.