Congestion Management and Performance Measurements Made Easy with Latest Technology
November 10th, 2010
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by Ben Chen, PE, PTOE
Congestion management and performance measurements are two of the primary functions for a transportation agency. A key to understanding both is travel time data. Possible uses of travel time data include:
- Quantify a region’s overall congestion level (e.g. Travel Time Index)
- Identify bottleneck areas in need of further study
- Develop future improvement projects
- Assess the benefits of transportation projects
- Calibrate and validate regional travel demand models
Travel time data can be obtained using various methods. A traditional method is to conduct travel time runs by probe vehicles equipped with GPS units. Second by second raw GPS data (vehicle speed and latitude/longitude position) are collected and compiled to obtain travel time statistics. A more cost effective method is now available to purchase a massive amount of travel time data or even raw GPS data from commercial vendors such as INRIX and TomTom.
Categories: Travel Time Database System (TTDS)
