FREEWAY INCIDENT DETECTION AND ARTERIAL SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT FOR THE I-84 CORRIDOR Final Report August 2003 UI Budget KLK463 ITD Contract SPR-0010(026) NIATT Report Number N03-16 Prepared for Idaho Department of Transportation Prepared by National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology University of Idaho Ahmed Abdel-Rahim University of Idaho and Mandar Khanal Boise State University TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ IV PROJECT SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................V 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 THE PROCESS OF INCIDENT MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................... 1 1.3 CURRENT IDAHO PROJECTS .................................................................................................................. 2 1.3.1 Treasure Valley Traffic Management Center (TMC)................................................................... 2 1.3.2 Development of an Incident Management Plan (IMP)................................................................. 5 1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT.......................................................................................................................... 5 1.5 PROJECT OBJECTIVES ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.6 SCOPE OF WORK................................................................................................................................... 7 2. CURRENT FREEWAY OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR THE I-84 CORRIDOR ... 9 2.1 FREEWAY DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT .............................................................................. 9 2.1.1 Data Analysis............................................................................................................................. 12 2.2 TRAFFIC FLOW PROFILES.................................................................................................................... 14 2.3 SPEED PROFILES ................................................................................................................................. 21 2.4 TRAFFIC FLOW CHARACTERISTICS ..................................................................................................... 24 3. INCIDENT DETECTION ALGORITHMS ........................................................................................ 28 3.1 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 OBJECTIVE.......................................................................................................................................... 29 3.3 SCOPE................................................................................................................................................. 29 4. IMPLEMENTED ALGORITHMS.......................................................................................................30 4.1 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM – TRANSCORE........................................................................................... 30 4.2 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM – MODIFICATION ONE .............................................................................. 31 4.3 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM – MODIFICATION TWO.............................................................................. 33 4.4 DIFFERENCE IN SPEED WITH PERSISTENCE CHECK – TRANSCORE .................................................. 34 4.5 DIFFERENCE IN SPEED WITH PERSISTENCE CHECK – MODIFICATION ONE .......................................... 36 4.6 CALIFORNIA ALGORITHM #8 .............................................................................................................. 37 5. ALGORITHM OUTPUT....................................................................................................................... 40 5.1 RESEARCH DATA ................................................................................................................................40 Freeway Incident Detection i 5.1.1 Traffic Flow Data ...................................................................................................................... 40 5.1.2. Congestion Data ....................................................................................................................... 44 5.2 ALGORITHM IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................................................... 46 5.3 OUTPUT FROM INDIVIDUAL ALGORITHMS .......................................................................................... 47 3.3.1 Mean Speed Algorithm – TRANSCORE..................................................................................... 47 5.3.2 Mean Speed Algorithm – Modification One............................................................................... 48 5.3.3 Mean Speed Algorithm – Modification Two .............................................................................. 50 5.3.4 Difference in Speed with Persistence Check Algorithm – TRANSCORE................................... 52 5.3.5 Difference in Speed with Persistence Check Algorithm – Modification One............................. 53 5.3.6 California Algorithm# 8............................................................................................................. 54 5.4 SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................................... 55 6.0 TREASURE VALLEY ITS ATMS CONTROL SOFTWARE ALGORITHMS ........................... 56 6.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 56 6.2 ALL PURPOSE INCIDENT DETECTION (APID) ALGORITHM ................................................................. 56 6.3 MCMASTER ALGORITHM.................................................................................................................... 57 6.4 MULTIPLE SPEED THRESHOLD QUEUE (MSTQ) DETECTION ALGORITHM.......................................... 58 6.6 EVALUATION OF THE ATMS CONTROL SOFTWARE INCIDENT DETECTION ALGORITHMS................... 59 7.0 OPTIMAL CONTROL PLANS DURING INCIDENT SITUATION............................................. 64 7.1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 64 7.2 THE PROPOSED EVALUATION FRAMEWORK ....................................................................................... 66 7.3 SIMULATION MODEL DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................. 67 7.4 CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION OF THE SIMULATION MODELS ......................................................... 71 7.5 EVALUATION METHODOLOGY AND OPTIMAL SIGNAL CONTROL PLANS ............................................ 72 7.6 EVALUATING INCIDENTS UNDER UNCERTAINTY................................................................................. 75 7.6.1 The Proposed Methodology ....................................................................................................... 76 7.6.3 METHODOLOGY RESULTS................................................................................................................ 79 APPENDIX A ............................................................................................................................................. 82 JANUARY 2001 CONGESTION AVERAGES................................................................................................ 82 JUNE 2001 CONGESTION AVERAGES....................................................................................................... 84 SEPTEMBER 2001 CONGESTION AVERAGES ............................................................................................ 86 APPENDIX B.............................................................................................................................................. 88 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM................................................................................................................ 88 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM - MOD ONE........................................................................................... 91 MEAN SPEED ALGORITHM - MODIFICATION TWO...................................................................... 92 PERSISTENCE ALGORITHM............................................................................................................... 93 Freeway Incident Detection ii PERSISTENCE ALGORITHM – MODIFICATION ONE ..................................................................... 96 CALIFORNIA ALGORITHM .............................................................................................................. 100 APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................................................... 103 Freeway Incident Detection iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Idaho Transportation Department, in collaboration with