1. 1 Innovative Tools October 27, 2011 Chi Mai

2. 2 Presentation Overview VISSIM Corridors VISSIM Protocol Hours of Congestion

3. 3 VISSIM Corridors

4. 4 Why VISSIM as an Analysis Tool in Region 1? Major transportation corridors are operating at and over capacity Need a tool to model queue spillbacks and freeway weaving operations Complex multi-modal transportation system - ramp meter operations, transit (streetcars and buses), and pedestrians

5. 5 VISSIM Operational Corridors OR217 (I-5 to US26) –Applied to the OR217 Corridor Study I-5 (Wilsonville Rd Intchge to I-405) –Being applied to I-5 Bottleneck Study I-205 (I-5 Wilsonville to I-84) –Being applied to I-205 Bottleneck Study

6. 6 Time Period Modeled 4-hour AM Model –6:00 AM to 10:00 AM 5-hour PM Model –2:00 PM to 7:00 PM

7. 7 Data Collected Traffic Volume Data Travel Time Data Spot Speed Data Queuing Data Control Data Geometric Data

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11. 11 VISSIM Protocol

12. 12 History with VISSIM June 2005 - Purchased VISUM and VISSIM package license October 2007 – developed VISSIM Protocol for Simulation on Freeways (Region 1 – Portland Metro) June 2011 - completed update to Protocol for VISSIM Simulation for freeways and arterials and for statewide use

13. 13 Updated Protocol Requires Developing a clear problem statement and objective for VISSIM model Process of developing VISSIM model –Check-in points –Review at every critical step –Consultant/Agency reviewer knows exactly what is expected at each deliverable –Checklist for reviewer

14. 14 Improved Process Consultants can better prepare work scope, timeline and budget for project Agency can receive the product we scoped for

15. 15 Hours of Congestion Developing an Empirical Tool for Estimating Duration of Congestion

16. 16 How Can Transportation Decisions Be Made When Standards Are Not Meaningful? What does it mean when peak hour volume to capacity (v/c) ratios far exceed 1.0? What is the difference between a peak hour v/c ratio of 1.3 and 1.6? How much worse is congestion on the facility? A measure of congestion duration is needed to evaluate networks in this condition

17. 17 Congestion Spreading Analysis Can Provide Decision Makers Insight Into the Reality of Congestion If financial constraints, land use forecasts, and policies on facility sizing = severe peak hour failure, how many hours of the day are congested?

18. 18 Current Regional Travel Demand Models Are Not Built To Predict Congestion Spreading Trips are developed for daily trip purposes Peak period trip tables are built with fixed time-of-day factors –Portland Metro Model Time Periods AM Peak (7AM - 9AM, 2 hours) Midday Peak (Noon - 1PM, 1 hour) PM Peak (4PM - 6PM, 2 hours) Network congestion affects trip distribution, mode choice, and assignment, but excess demand is not forced into shoulder periods

19. 19 Improves Regional Transportation Discussions Forecasting the Duration of Congestion Improves Regional Transportation Discussions Hours of Congestion provides a duration measure for congested urban networks Hours of Congestion adds a new dimension to understanding key regional bottlenecks Hours of Congestion helps identify and assess locations for operations improvements Hours of Congestion provides a comparison to known nationwide severely congested corridors

20. 20 Hours of Congestion (HOC) Approach: Data Mining to Build a Travel Demand Model Post- Processing Tool Data Mining Sources –PORTAL Data (Database of Freeway Loop Detectors) – 4 yrs of data –ATR Data (Database of Permanent Count Recorders) – 4 yrs of data –Roadway Tube Counts (Sample Daily Hourly Profiles) – 100+ data points –Bus GPS Records (Database of Corridor Travel Speed) – 6 weeks of data

21. 21 Introducing Hours of Congestion Into the Transportation Planning Process

22. 22 Hours of Congestion provides a duration measure for congested urban networks OR 43 (Macadam Avenue) northbound at Gaines Street, 2035 I-5 northbound ramp to Marquam Bridge, 2035 Vehicles per Hour Hour Vehicles per Hour Hour

23. 23 Hours of Congestion adds a new dimension to understanding key regional bottlenecks

24. 24 Hours of Congestion helps identify and assess locations for operations improvements

25. 25 Hours of Congestion provides a comparison to known nationwide severely congested corridors Source 2009 Data: INRIX National Traffic Scorecard 2009 Annual Report

26. 26 Questions?