ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL DELAY REDUCTION BENEFITS OF FREEWAY DIVERSION ROUTES PLANS IN INTEGRATED INCIDENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The evolution of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technologies provided tools for integrated freeway and arterial systems management, including freeway traffic diversion, and the provision of up-to-date traveler information. Many states and metropolitan areas have already initiated integrated incident management systems to assure optimal utilization of the existing freeway and arterial system networks. There are several uncertainties associated with incidents that affect the incident management operations. First, the actual duration of the incident cannot be accurately predicted. Second, there is no effective way in practice to achieve a theoretical optimum diversion from an open freeway. This paper introduces a microsimulation-based approach to assess and accurately quantify the potential delay reduction benefits of deploying freeway diversion plans in integrated incident management systems. The proposed approach employs an anticipatory technique to estimate demand and incident severity based on real-time data transmitted to the traffic management center (TMC) through a fiber optic communication network and a library of historical traffic volume and incident data.