BACKGROUND
Transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) strategies (e.g., 511, work zone speed management, smart work zones, ramp metering, managed lanes, real-time travel information, etc.) are playing an increasing role in supporting transportation agencies’ strategic goals of improved equity, mobility, reliability, safety, and sustainability. Many evaluations of the effectiveness of TSMO deployments have been performed over the last few decades, but most have focused on the system performance outcomes, namely the impacts on performance metrics such as travel speed, travel time, delay reduction, and crash rates. The impacts of TSMO strategies on traveler behavior, such as mode choice, departure time, and route choice, are not well known. In addition, the impact of traveler behavior (due to TSMO deployments) on the overall transportation network performance is not well established. By better understanding how deployed TSMO strategies affect both the tactical and strategic behavior of travelers, more effective combinations of TSMO approaches can be designed to help agencies meet their goals.
Research is needed to evaluate the impacts of TSMO deployment on traveler behavior and corresponding network performance using data from active TSMO deployments. There are typically five stages in an immediate trip chain where travelers make choices. These include destination choice, time of day choice, mode choice, route choice, and lane/facility choice. When comprehensively applied, TSMO strategies can influence many stages of the trip chain and thus influence both the supply and demand sides of transportation management. Different TSMO strategies can influence different parts of the trip chain, and the focus is more on the influence of TSMO in making short-term, real-time changes to traveler behavior based on prevailing conditions than on long-term, habitual, and static changes to traveler behavior. Understanding how deployed TSMO strategies affect the dynamic decisions travelers make and how network performance changes because of these choices is key.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to develop a guide to help public agencies evaluate how various TSMO strategies affect traveler behaviors (pretrip, en route, or holistically) and how these behavior changes affect transportation system performance.
Accomplishment of the project objective will require completion of the following tasks, at a minimum.
TASKS
PHASE I – PLANNING
Task 1. Literature review. Conduct a comprehensive review of published literature, ongoing projects, and other documents related to TSMO and its impacts on travel behavior and resulting system performance impacts, including data sources, data collection methods and research methods. The review shall summarize evaluation metrics for travel behavior changes and provide insights on industry best practices as well as what agencies may consider when developing TSMO strategies and conducting evaluations.
Task 2. Synthesize literature review. Investigate how travelers change their travel behavior in both tactical and strategic ways in response to TSMO strategies based on the findings of Task 1. Synthesize the results of the literature review to identify the knowledge gaps related to the research objective. These gaps should be addressed in the final product or the recommended future research as budget permits.
Task 3. Assess agency, industry, and academic approaches to measuring traveler behavior. Assess how agency, industry, and academia gather information on travel behaviors, such as via data collection equipment, third-party data sources, public outreach and feedback mechanisms, travel surveys, etc., and how public agencies might use that information to modify existing or develop and deploy new TSMO strategies to affect traveler behaviors.
Task 4. Using existing data and potentially new data sources, propose methods to quantify how travelers modify their tactical and/or strategic travel behavior based on the deployment and information related to one or more TSMO strategies. The purpose of this task is to determine how travelers modify their tactical and/or strategic travel behavior based on the deployment and information related to one or more TSMO strategies and to analyze how travelers' tactical and strategic behavior choices directly impact network performance. The methods shall consider, at a minimum, aspects of equity, mobility, reliability, safety, environment, and to the extent possible, the context of the implementing region.
Task 5. Identify at least three potential sites that capture a variety of strategies and regional contexts for demonstrative evaluation to verify the proposed methods developed in Task 4. Develop a detailed experiment design for the demonstrative evaluations.
Task 6. Develop a draft annotated outline and review schedule for the guide. The annotated outline is intended to provide the foundation, context, and framework for the draft guide to be developed in Task 9. The annotated outline shall cover the following topics:
- The relationships between TSMO strategies and travel behaviors
- Methods to evaluate travel behavior changes caused by TSMO strategies, considering network performance changes
- Experiment design to implement the evaluation methods
- Data needs and sources (especially on behavioral data collection, such as a list of behavior metrics, estimation methods, sample size, etc.)
- Demonstrative evaluation cases
- Summary of findings
- Institutional structure to facilitate incorporating effective TSMO strategies for travel behavior changes
Task 7. Prepare an interim report documenting the results of Tasks 1 through 6 and provide an updated plan for the remainder of the research. The updated plan must describe the method and rationale for the work proposed for Phase II.
PHASE II – EXECUTION
Task 8. Execute the approved method and conduct demonstrative evaluations according to the approved interim report.
Task 9. Develop a draft guide and submit for the NCHRP panel’s review per the schedule according to the approved interim report.
Task 10. Develop a PowerPoint presentation (approximately 30 minutes) for the guide developed in Task 9. The presentation slides shall specify the research purpose, objective, key issues that were addressed, research products developed, and the potential benefit or value of those products. The draft presentation will be reviewed, and comments provided will be addressed in the final versions of the presentation. In addition, the contractor is expected to present the project findings in a webinar to be organized by the TRB after dissemination of the project deliverables.
Task 11. Refine and update the guide based on comments from the NCHRP project panel.
Task 12. Prepare the final deliverables, including the following:
- A conduct of research report that documents the entire research effort, lessons learned, and recommendations for future research
- The final guide
- Media and communications material (e.g., PowerPoint presentations, 2-page executive flyer for each report, graphics, graphics interchange format images [GIFs], press releases)
- A stand-alone technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products.” Additional funding may be available for a follow-up contract on the implementation of the results.
STATUS: Research in progress.
