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Mobility & Traffic Incidents
Mobility & Traffic Incidents
Identify Best Locations for New Flex-Route Projects Throughout the State of Michigan
Project Number: SPR-1751
Contract Number: 2023-0458
Status: Complete
Start Date: 06/14/2023
End Date 06/14/2025
Summary:
Part-time shoulder use (PTSU) has emerged as an effective lane-use strategy to mitigate both recurrent and non-recurrent congestion. Given the operational and safety benefits associated with the US-23 Flex Route, this research project focused on evaluating the feasibility of PTSU on selected freeway corridors in Michigan that are prone to such congestion. An initial list of 16 candidate freeway corridors was identified based on a review of congestion patterns and consultation with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). A series of comprehensive operational and safety assessments were conducted for these corridors. Delay trend maps were developed to visualize congestion patterns, and a macroscopic operational analysis was performed using the Highway Capacity Software (HSCS) Freeway Module to forecast the impacts of implementing PTSU on various operational measures of effectiveness. Results indicated that PTSU generally improved travel times and reduced vehicular delay and associated costs. Similar analyses were conducted to quantify the level of safety performance in terms of congestion-related crashes along these same corridors. A spreadsheet tool was developed to compare these performance measures across corridors. The performance measures were normalized, and an overall ranking score was assigned to prioritize candidate corridors for future PTSU implementation. The findings from this study provide a data-driven framework for identifying freeway corridors best suited for PTSU, enabling MDOT to make informed decisions for future implementation.
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