Present information graphically to improve comprehension.

National experience using archived traffic detector data for monitoring highway performance.

Date Posted
07/10/2006
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Identifier
2006-L00268

Lessons Learned: Monitoring Highway Congestion and Reliability Using Archived Traffic Detector Data

Summary Information

The Mobility Monitoring Program (http://mobility.tamu.edu/mmp/) provides valuable insights with respect to using archived traffic detector data for monitoring highway performance (e.g., traffic congestion and travel reliability). The Mobility Monitoring Program was initiated in 2000 using archived freeway detector data from 10 cities. By 2004, the Program had grown to include nearly 30 cities with about 3,000 miles of freeway. Over the first four years of the Program, the project team gained valuable experience in the course of gathering archived data from State and local agencies. These experiences were captured in the report "Lessons Learned: Monitoring Highway Congestion and Reliability Using Archived Traffic Detector Data." The lessons documented in this report focus on three general areas: analytical methods, data quality, and institutional issues. They are useful to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as it expands the national congestion monitoring program and to State and local agencies as they develop their congestion monitoring capabilities.

Lessons Learned

This report provides a summary of lessons learned from the Mobility Monitoring Program concerning the use of archived traffic detector data for monitoring highway performance. One lesson learned from the report concerns presenting information in a form that is understandable to all applicable audiences.

  • Present information graphically to improve comprehension by all audiences. The audience for transportation performance information can include a wide range of transportation practitioners, agency mid- and upper-level managers, elected officials, business leaders, and the media. Simple charts and graphics are more easily interpreted by this diverse audience than complex data tables and lengthy text descriptions. Data collectors and analysts may be adept at interpreting complex technical data because that is their primary job function; however, other non-technical audiences may only be able to devote 30 to 60 seconds to understanding key report elements. Several practitioners have mentioned the "spouse test," in which they asked their spouse (who has a non-technical background) to review and interpret certain graphics or charts that illustrated transportation performance.
  • Summarize projects with one-page of text and graphics. Another "rule-of-thumb" is that every research project or activity should be summarized with a single page of text and a picture or graphic.

This experience suggests that it is important to keep graphics simple when presenting information to a diverse audience. This experience also suggests that an effective communication technique includes creating a one-page summary, containing both text and graphics, for all research projects and activities.

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