Use of Advanced Analysis Tools to Support Freeway Corridor Freight Planning

Advanced corridor freight management and pricing strategies are increasingly being chosen to address freight mobility challenges. As a result, evaluation tools are needed to assess the benefits of these strategies as compared to other alternatives. The goal of this project is to investigate methods and tools that can be used to assess combinations of such improvement strategies as part of the corridor freight planning process. The assessment environment developed in this project utilizes a dynamic traffic assignment (DTA)/mesoscopic traffic simulation tool that is integrated with the Florida statewide traffic demand forecasting model (FLSWM). The developed environment includes utilities to convert the FLSWM network and demand files to DTA tool inputs. A method is used to estimate the time-variant (short-time interval) demand matrices required as inputs to the DTA tool. Both conventional traffic detector data and data obtained from Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) detectors are imported to the developed environment. The imported data is used to support the calibration of the traffic flow model of the DTA tool and to estimate the time variant demand matrices. The study demonstrates the use of the developed environment in assessing two advanced corridor freight management strategies: advanced traveler information systems and truck/toll lanes.