Provide consistent and high-quality information to influence traveler behavior.

National experience with evaluating user response to freeway management systems.

Date Posted
09/16/2005
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Identifier
2005-L00028

Intelligent Transportation Systems Field Operational Test Cross-Cutting Study: Incident Management: Detection, Verification, and Traffic Management

Summary Information

In 1991, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) initiated a new program to address the needs of the emerging ITS field. This program solicited and funded projects, called Field Operational Tests (FOTs). The tests were sponsored and supported by several administrations of the Department, including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). FHWA has prepared several "crosscutting" studies that compare or synthesize the findings of multiple tests within a particular area of interest.

This report presents the results of nine FHWA ITS FOTs and the ITS deployment in Georgia for the 1996 Summer Olympics, and discusses the possible implications of these findings for further deployment of incident detection, verification, and traffic management services, and communications to improve the Incident Management capabilities of transportation and public safety officials. The service will help these officials to quickly and accurately identify a variety of incidents, and to implement a set of actions to minimize the effects of those incidents.

Lessons Learned

All tests evaluating user response have arrived at a uniform conclusion that travelers will act based upon information from a trusted and well understood system that provides information of value. TransGuide’s survey of motorist reaction to the information in San Antonio demonstrated a high level of acceptance of the system (80 percent followed its instructions), and a significant level of appreciation (71 percent felt they saved time) for the benefits they derived from it.



No test has quantified isolated travel time benefits from incident management information alone, but motorists clearly felt that they derived an appreciable benefit from acting on the information, even in situations where information was only available en-route, such as in TransGuide Phase I, and where diversionary routing was not utilized. Acceptance data was excellent from TransGuide’s implementation of directional lane control signals, although the impact of these devices could not be isolated from the impact of the remainder of the incident management system.



FAST-TRAC (Oakland County, MI) experienced negative public perception due to problems with project/system image management. TransGuide attributes part of its success to a significant investment in outreach; DIVERT (St. Paul, MN) also executed an extensive outreach program, and identified project objectives in both travel behavior and user acceptance categories.