Impact of Disruptions along the I-95 Corridor on Congestion and Air Quality.

摘要

Interstate 95 is a major corridor for vehicles and freight for the eastern United States. Extensive planning and review is needed to keep this corridor running as efficiently as possible, minimizing the impacts of construction or disruptions. The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) has established re-routing plans for portions of I-95 in Delaware. These plans provide guidance to system managers and law enforcement as to how to re-direct traffic in case sections of the interstate are closed. These plans are based on the knowledge and experience of the DelDOT Traffic Management Team. However, it is difficult to evaluate these plans since complete closures are thankfully rare events. There does exist a capability to evaluate these plans, without disrupting traffic, by using a simulation model. Using the DelDOT regional transportation planning model, which covers the entire DelMarVa Peninsula, a series of scenarios were developed and tested to evaluate the existing plans and suggest alternatives. Each scenario was compared to the un-disrupted condition and impact to drivers was measured by computing additional vehicle-miles travelled and vehicle-hours travelled and looking at the impact on the environment by the increased emissions. Recommendations and conclusions were developed as well as opportunities for future work.