Assessment of Travel-Time Reliability and Operational Resilience of Metro Freeway Corridors

Project summary:

A reliable and resilient freeway network--which can absorb, recover, and adapt to various operating conditions--is of critical importance in advancing the economic and environmental sustainability of the Twin Cities metro area. A key element in developing and maintaining such a resilient freeway system is the capability to monitor and assess corridor-wide travel-time reliability and resilience of the metro freeway network at individual corridor levels. In the previous phase of this research, Travel-Time Reliability Estimation System (TeTRES) was enhanced and applied to analyze the travel-time reliability trends for a total of 48 directional freeway corridors in the metro network from 1/2016 until 8/2020. Further, a prototype model was developed to estimate the corridor-wide operational-resilience index (CORI), designed to quantify the core capability of a given corridor system in resisting and recovering from congestion. The prototype CORI model was tested with the data collected from six directional corridors in the metro area under dry weather conditions.

The main goal of this project is to continuously assess the reliability trends of the metro freeway network by utilizing TeTRES. Specifically, researchers will estimate the travel-time reliability measures of the major freeway corridors from 9/2020 to 12/2023 and analyze their historical trends under various operating conditions. Further, the prototype resilience model, developed from the previous phase, will be enhanced to reflect different weather conditions, and applied to determine the operational resilience of the major corridors in the metro network.