Methodology for Oversized Vehicle Trip Scheduling

摘要

Because of the technological growth and economic development, there are more andmore oversized commercial trucks traveling on the highway systems. In order to increase driving safety, federal and Virginia laws restrict oversized vehicles traveling on interstate and federal-aid highway without a special permit. Currently, the permit procedure for oversized vehicles involves the approval of a proposed route, with no restriction on departure time or arrival time, except that the trip must occur in daylight hours. The purpose of this thesis is to develop a scheduling methodology to be used by the State Permit Office. That methodology is intended to enable the Permit Office to add advisory trip scheduling information to the permit approval and thereby enhance oversized vehicle traveling safety. The methodology seeks to establish for an approved route the best time of travel that has the optimum combination of the lowest accident rate and minimum accident consequence. To implement the methodology requires that crash and traffic volume data be available for the study routes. A case study that demonstrates the applicability of the methodology was completed for the Hampton Roads Area. The results of this study show that traffic flow, accident rate, and accident-caused congestion are affected remarkably by time of day. These findings are also consistent with past research. It justifies the feasibility of developing a scheduling strategy that incorporates traffic parameters and time of travel to reduce oversized vehicle accident rate and accident consequence. The sample scheduling solutions generated by the proposed methodology confirm the applicability of the proposed methodology.