New Research Provides Tools to Improve Travel Time Reliability on Congested Roadways

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, 42 percent of America's urban highways are congested and it is estimated that by 2030, the cumulative cost and economic impact of traffic congestion will soar to $2.8 trillion.  Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) have come out with new information and tools for states and cities to help improve transportation reliability and reduce the impact for American's wallets.

The time wasted in gridlock traffic impacts millions of individual's quality of life in the US everyday - having negative impacts on everything from our personal relationships to air quality. Providing transportation planners and traffic engineers with the best information to help improve existing roadways and plan for new construction is a crucial part of the equation to improving safety and reducing the economic impact to our nation.

Dr. Srinivas S. Pulugurtha and his research team at UNC Charlotte developed these state of the art traffic technologies with funding from the US Department of Transportation Commercial Remote Sensing & Spatial Information Technologies program. "This research represents years of passion and interest to study travel time related technologies, reliability as a performance measure," says Pulugurtha, Professor and Graduate Program Director of Civil & Environmental Engineering at UNC Charlotte.

Currently, there are no standard / widely accepted tools to quantify and rank roadway segments based on link-level reliability. With this research developed at UNC Charlotte, transportation planners can use the reliability ranking tool to identify and rank segments for project implementation. The visualization tool can be used to assess how reliable a road link is during different days of week or times of day. In addition, traffic operations engineers can use the incident effect prediction tool to forecast possible delays, alert system users regarding the same, and better manage the overall transportation network.

"It is imperative that we improve transportation safety and system reliability. This can only be achieved through enhanced tools to assist decision-makers better assess system performance," says Pulugurtha. These tools are available for integration with state departments of transportation or city departments of public works nationwide, and staff are encouraged to contact Dr. Pulugurtha to learn how they can use this research in their community.

Preview the online tools in action and see just how simple and easy the applications are to use: http://vimeo.com/116245415

SOURCE Srinivas S. Pulugurtha, Ph.D., P.E.