Advanced Warning of Stopped Traffic

Project Description

Stopped traffic on freeways poses safety and operational concerns to drivers, transportation agencies, construction and maintenance contractors, and emergency service personnel. Safety issues relate to driver ability to make gradual transitions from freeway speeds to stopped conditions without erratic maneuvers or collisions. Drivers frequently have minimal or no warning about downstream queuing, and information given on signs is difficult to keep current with ever-changing field conditions and rapidly fluctuating queues in congestion. This research addressed causes of slow/stopped traffic, current practices and techniques for queue warning, field studies of queue propagation on urban freeways, and identification and preliminary testing of promising warning methods.

Project Publications

Advance Warning of Stopped Traffic on Freeways: Current Practices and Field Studies of Queue Propagation Speeds 0-4413-1

Advance Warning of Stopped Traffic on Freeways: Field Studies of Congestion Warning Signs 0-4413-2

Advance Warning of Stopped Traffic on Freeways: Summary of Project Activities 0-4413-S

Texas Transportation Researcher Articles

Research targets freeway congestion - Volume 39, Number 2

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