Using Travel Time Data to Generate Aggregated Measures of Traffic

Reliable travel time data are easier to obtain than they were a few years ago because of technological advances. These data are used by drivers to plan their trips and by agencies to monitor traffic. However, travel time data are usually collected from a certain sample of all the vehicles traveling on the road. This paper proposes a simple and effective methodology for obtaining more information from these types of data. The method uses travel time data to construct cumulative curves at two points on a road section. Aggregated measures such as arrival flow and total delay then can be computed. This method is a simpler way to assess the social cost of congestion caused by various bottlenecks and adds value to travel time data.

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