Issue Paper

Congestion Management

September 21, 1998 Draft

One in a series of papers designed to stimulate and develop ideas for the region's long-range transportation plan. Each paper assesses issues, identifies existing and future conditions, and presents problem-solving approaches. Later drafts of this paper on the subject of congestion will be expanded to include analyses of travel on arterial roadways and an examination of the impact of congestion on individual travelers.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
   
• What is the issue?
   
• Why is it important?
   
• Defining Congestion
   
• Forms of Congestion
• Recurring Congestion
• Non recurring Congestion
• Incident Management Programs
• Freeway management systems
• Integrated Systems
• Conclusions about non recurring congestion
   
• What are the benefits of ITS on congestion, from a national perspective
   
• Congestion Management System Defined
   
• Goal of the EWGCC CMS
   
• Objectives of the EWGCC CMS
   
• Key Components of A Congestion Management System
• System Monitoring
• The St. Louis Region Congestion Management System
• Data Collection and Management
• Interpretation and Performance Reporting
   
• Strategy Consideration
• Strategy Identification and Screening
• Strategy Analysis
   
• Project Selection and Implementation
   
• Effectiveness Evaluation
• Studies specifically required by the EWGCC CMS
   
• Measuring Congestion
• Evaluation Criteria used for CMS Performance Measures
• The Use of Existing CMS Performance Measures
• Travel time and travel speed as preferred measures of congestion
   
• Assessing System Performance
• Selected performance measures
   
• A survey of density-based Level of Service, derived from aerial photography
• Areas exhibiting severe congestion
• Morning Peak Hour Congestion
• Evening Peak Hour Congestion
• Peak Hour Congestion, LOS F for Interstate System Studied
   
• An Analysis of Possible Factors in Increasing VMT, 1984 to 1996
• The factors considered
• Results: By Region, 1996, compared to 1984
• Statistical Analysis of the Annual Data from 1984 to 1996
   
• Potential CMS Strategies For Addressing Congestion
• Strategy Class and Representative Strategies/Measures of the CMS
   
• Evaluating Strategies and Potential Improvement Projects:
• Strategy Evaluation Measures: "strategy specific measures
   
• Roles and Responsibilities
   
• Summary of Regional Alternative Strategy Policy and Implementation
• Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Measures
• Traffic Operational Improvements
• High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Measures
• Park-and-ride facilities
• Public Transit Capital Improvements
• Public Transit Operational Improvements
• Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities
• Congestion Pricing
• Growth Management Strategies
• Access Management
• Incident Management
• Intelligent Transportation Systems
• General Purpose Lanes
   
• Implications of the CMS for the Future
• Data Management
• Reporting
• CMS Monitoring Program
• Effectiveness Evaluation Library
• Evaluation Study Guidelines
• CMS Evaluation Studies
   
• Three things for the long term
   
• Appendix 1
• Roadway System Congestion Tables
• St. Louis Roadway Congestion Index Values for 1982 to 1994
• 1994 Roadway Congestion Index Values
• Daily Hours of delay for 1994
• Annual Hours of delay
• Annual Person-Hours of Delay per Eligible Driver from 1982 to 1994
• Areawide Speed Ratio for 1994
• Areawide Speed Ratios from 1982 to 1994
• Annual Wasted Fuel due to Congestion from 1982 to 1994
• Excess Fuel Consumed Due to Congestion, 1994
• Annual Cost of Congestion for 1994
• Roadway Congestion Index
   
• Appendix 2
• Potential Roadway CMS Performance Measures
   
• Appendix 3
• Potential Transit / Travel Demand Management CMS Performance Measures
   
• Appendix 4
• Roles and Responsibilities Matrix
   
• FOOTNOTES