Freeway Corridor Management: tools and strategies

Congestion, demand exceeding capacity, environmental concerns, lack of funding, exponential increases in mobilization, pollution, traffic incidents, and freeway user safety are all issues attracting increasing and unanimous concern and controversy. Unfortunately, unlike many other engineering disciplines, that which is focused on solving the above problems has no ready-to-use "correct" solution. Rather, it is a process of continuous trials, improvements, and tailoring. Nevertheless, in coupling conventional transportation engineering with the fields of advanced technologies, Freeway Corridor Management has come a long way in devising and implementing solutions in many areas of concern. This paper presents a comprehensive study on Freeway Corridor Management. The various relevant tools and strategies are presented with an emphasis on technology-related approaches. Case studies are presented extensively throughout the paper to give the reader a clear perspective on the state of the industry and current practices. Finally, a complete description of one of the more prominent Freeway Management Systems implementations (FMS of the Arizona DOT) is given.