Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (DECC) Special Events Traffic Flow Study: Phase II - Mobility Monitoring and Performance Measure via Dynamic Travel - FY04NATSRL

Project summary:

Following special events at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center (DECC), high volumes of exiting traffic create substantial congestion at adjacent intersections. This research expands on previous work by focusing on the critical issue of mobility measure and travel time prediction on Railroad Street and Lake Avenue near the DECC.

In the first part of this project, three test vehicles equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment were used to collect post-event travel time data over a seven month period. The second part of this project focused on travel time prediction via the Kalman filtering and estimation technique, which provides estimates of existing values, predicts future values of prescribed variables, and improves estimates of earlier variables. Based on the historic and real-time data, a recursive, discrete-time Kalman filter was used to predict travel time from the DECC exit on Railroad Street to the intersection of Lake Avenue North & I-35. Finally, an assessment of the performance and its effectiveness at the test site were investigated.

The study was conducted to assist Mn/DOT District One and the City of Duluth Traffic Service Center in the performance monitoring, planning, and management of the traffic flow following special events at the DECC. The integration of the collection and assessment tools used in this study has the potential for providing valuable travel-time information to motorists making route choices.