THE HISTORICAL AND RESEARCH FRAMEWORK FOR FREEWAY TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

This is a history of urban freeway management which describes its beginnings, and traces the threads of research and other activities up to the present day. Early traffic management research in Detroit, in Chicago, Dallas and Houston are noted, as well as the Integrated Motorist Information System, a traffic management system for the 35-mile Long Island Expressway Corridor in central Long Island, New York, which evolved from the Dallas project. Related freeway traffic management activities in Canada, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Japan are also noted. These projects and other activities have shown that active management of urban freeways pays off in accident reduction, time savings, energy conservation and cleaner air. It is pointed out that today, the Federal Highway Administration has drastically reduced its support for traffic operations research. However, research is going forward within the National Cooperative Highway Research Program to assess the benefits of emerging high-technology in offsetting trends toward increasing congestion. A number of conferences are being held or planned in closely related subject areas. and many urban areas are looking at the prospects for implementing FTM (freeway traffic management) strategies.