Using Operations-Oriented Performance Measures to Support Freeway Management Systems (0-5292-S)

This project summary report summarizes the research performed in Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Project 0-5292. While performance measurement has been applied to transportation in the planning area for some time, its use in real-time applications has been extremely limited. This research provided a groundwork feasibility test for using performance measures in real time. Results of the first year's efforts indicated that the areas of operations and emissions were not using a real-time performance measurement process and examined areas which real-time performance measurement could support. In the second year, a prototype real-time performance monitoring system was developed. The prototype interfaces (operator displays) showed that the use of the performance measures in real time can provide an understanding of roadway conditions and serve as a baseline to visually communicate that information to operators on both a temporal and spatial basis. The results of the research hold promise for supplementing the current systems and aiding operators in detecting an incident and determining the location, extent of the incident's effect, and timeframe of the incident's effects.