Johnson, Mirmiran & Thompson (JMT) has received a Merit Award in ACEC Virginia’s Engineering Excellence Awards competition for its work on developing complex analysis models of five popular commuter corridors for the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). JMT, in association with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin (VHB) and the University of Virginia, used speed and travel time data to develop quality performance measures to justify the need for major road improvements and project the impact of those improvements once implemented.
The report will help VDOT’s Traffic Engineering Division support its field operation staff involved with arterial and freeway management. It is envisioned to be a prototype for understanding traffic operations along heavily traveled corridors. Future performance measures will most likely be generated via a data management system, where standard dashboard features and standard reports will be available.
The pilot corridors were defined by VDOT and included three freeways and two arterial roads, each comprising multiple Traffic Messaging Channel links. They included: I-64 eastbound from Gaskins Road in Henrico County to Exit 74 from I-95 in downtown Richmond; I-64 eastbound from Exit 264 (I-664) to Exit 264 (I-264 eastern junction) in Hampton Roads; US 29 northbound from US 33 to US 15 (south of Gainesville) in
Culpeper; I-95 southbound from I-495 (Exit 170/Springfield Interchange) to VA 234 (Exit 152/Dumfries) in Northern Virginia; and VA 7 eastbound from US 15 east of Leesburg to VA 267/Dulles Toll Road. The focus of the analysis was the a.m. and p.m. rush hour peak periods for each corridor between 5 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 9 p.m.
To conduct the study, JMT and VHB used historical travel times from 2010 with data purchased from INRIX, the database which provides historical, real time traffic information and traffic forecasts to businesses and individuals in over 30 countries.