Hard shoulder running (HSR) is increasingly used in recent years as a more sustainable way to alleviate congestion and increase the efficiency of freeways in many vibrant cities. With HSR, the existing paved shoulder is opened for use as a travel lane when congestion exceeds predefined thresholds. This study proposes a hybrid hard shoulder running operation system (H-HSROS) that can be used by transportation agencies to operate their HSR operations in a safe and efficient manner. The proposed H-HSROS adopts a fuzzy approach based on archived speed data from roadway sensors. Interstate 75 (I-75), located in Cincinnati, is used as a testbed to illustrate the operation of the proposed H-HSROS. There are three major models in the proposed H-HSROS, which are a data manager, a computational engine, and a transportation management center. The data from sensors on I-75 in Cincinnati, Ohio, showed an increasing trend in traffic volume during the weekday compared to a weekend with an increase in traffic congestion. The congestion on the corridor could be improved by implementing the HSR technique. The data manager of H-HSROS processes the information coming from the roadway sensors and cameras. The computational engine works with data and provides preliminary traffic analysis such as volume, flow, mean, standard deviation, and reliability. Real-time traffic information of H-HSROS is analyzed using a hyperbolic fuzzy membership function. Fuzzy membership function uses the computation engine to analyze the coming data provided and determine whether to open the HSR lane for travel or not. Before the opening of HSR to travel, the shoulder must be inspected continuously. The inspection should be through a closed-circuit camera, which must be distributed along with the facility for safety issues. For rush hour congestion reduction, the shoulder might be opened every weekday during peak hours. Also, if the traffic volume is high, the H-HSROS will be able to extend the operating hours. HSR provides additional capacity on the freeway and can potentially mitigate the negative effects of congestion.
Development of Hybrid Hard Shoulder Running Operation System for Active Traffic Management
International Conference on Transportation and Development 2020 ; 2020 ; Seattle, Washington (Conference Cancelled)
2020-08-31
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
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