MPC Research Reports
Report Details

Title:	Evaluation of Optimal Traffic Monitoring Station Spacing on Freeways
Authors:	Peter Martin, Piyali Chaduri, and Aleksandar Stevanovic
University:	University of Utah
Publication Date:	Jun 2009
Report #:	MPC-09-214
Project #:	MPC-289
TRID #:	01139936
Keywords:	cost effectiveness, freeway management systems, loop detectors, optimization, spacing

Abstract

Traffic Monitoring Stations on Interstate 15 in Utah's Salt Lake City metropolitan region are placed at approximately 0.5 mile spacing. It is time to replace and upgrade the detectors that constitute these Traffic Monitoring Stations. The 0.5 mile spacing owes little to logical design. Where the new detectors should be deployed and how many of them are required is the focus of this project.

The research reported here has two parts. The first part evaluated the effectiveness and reliability of the detectors in traffic monitoring stations deployed by the Utah Department of Transportation on Interstate 15. The purpose of the second part of the project was to develop an analytical methodology to calculate travel time measures considering the trade-off between spacing and accuracy of the estimates. The project identifies the optimal locations of a finite set of point detectors on the freeway corridor in order to minimize the error in travel time estimation, within the constraints of available capital and state maintenance funding.

How to Cite

Martin, Peter, Piyali Chaduri, and Aleksandar Stevanovic. Evaluation of Optimal Traffic Monitoring Station Spacing on Freeways, MPC-09-214. North Dakota State University - Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, Fargo: Mountain-Plains Consortium, 2009.