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Integrated Corridor Management Analysis, Modeling, and Simulation
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| With ICM, the various partner agencies manage the transportation corridor as a system
rather than the traditional approach of managing individual assets. |
The U.S. Department of Transportation
(USDOT) launched
the 5-year, multimodal Integrated
Corridor Management (ICM) initiative
in 2005 to help mitigate bottlenecks,
manage congestion, and
empower travelers to make more
informed travel choices through
actionable information. In 2006,
the USDOT selected 8 Pioneer Sites
to partner with and define their
concepts of operations and requirements
for the ICM initiative. The
Pioneer Sites include Oakland and
San Diego, CA; Dallas, Houston
and San Antonio, TX; Montgomery
County, MD; Seattle, WA; and Minneapolis,
MN.
Transportation corridor operators
and managers can employ an array
of ICM strategies to improve the
movement of people and goods.
With so many choices, agencies are
interested in analyzing the potential
benefits of the various approaches
to help them decide on specific ICM
strategies to implement. The USDOT
developed the ICM analysis,
modeling, and simulation (AMS)
methodology, which combines elements
of existing models to support
comprehensive assessment of
ICM strategies not available today
through any single tool. The AMS
approach enables corridor managers
to:
- Select and apply the most effective
ICM strategies,
- Invest with confidence, and
- Continually improve implementation
of ICM strategies.
In order to validate the AMS approach,
Interstate 880 (I-880) in the
San Francisco Bay Area was selected
to serve as a test corridor. Using
historical data, analysts examined
the potential implications of specific
sample ICM strategies under a variety
of conditions along the corridor.
Preliminary results from
AMS of the test corridor
suggest:
- ICM will help
reduce congestion and
improve productivity of
the nation's transportation
corridors.
- Benefits of ICM
strategies appear to be
greatest under conditions
of traffic congestion
due to heavy
demand and/or
incidents.
- Dynamically applying ICM
strategies in combination across
a corridor reduced congestion
and improved the overall productivity
of the transportation
system.
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| The USDOT has selected Pioneer Sites to apply analysis, modeling, and simulation (AMS) methodology on those sites' proposed integrated corridor management systems. Highway, arterial, and transit data are being analyzed to support AMS efforts. |
In late 2008, the USDOT selected
three of the eight ICM Pioneer Sites
to conduct AMS on their proposed
integrated corridor management
systems. The selected sites-Dallas,
Texas; Minneapolis, Minnesota;
and San Diego, California-have
the data, modeling and simulation
tools and well-described ICMS
needed to support analysis and are
in the process of developing experimental
plans. They are currently
developing AMS experimental plans
and evaluating the highway, arterial
and transit data available to support
AMS and ICM decision support
systems. The analysis should
be completed by the summer of
2009.
For more information on AMS or
the USDOT ICM Initiative, please
visit: http://www.its.dot.gov/icms/index.htm.
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