Multi-Site Evaluation of Congestion Reduction Demonstrations in the U.S.

Congestion pricing and other strategies to reduce congestion in metropolitan areas are being demonstrated in a small number of cities in the United States. This paper describes the process for evaluating the impact of the strategies in research funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. A framework is established to guide the evaluation across multiple sites to achieve consistency in approach, thereby enabling comparison of findings among the sites. The organization of the evaluation team is presented along with the multi-step process to planning, data collection, analysis and reporting. An example focusing on one of the sites is presented to illustrate the approach.