INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVITY OF URBAN EXPRESSWAYS: COMBINING TSM TECHNIQUES AND TRANSIT IMPROVEMENTS. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This is the second phase of a two-part study, which summarizes an analysis of Transportation Systems Management (TSM) and other low capital cost techniques to increase the productivity of urban expressways and streets in dense, built-up areas. Using CORSIM, a variant of the TASSIM land-use transportation model, this analysis examines the benefits and costs of implementing alternative combinations of TSM techniques and transit improvement policies. In Volume I, the costs and beneifts of implementing four alternative TSM policies in Boston's central area were estimated. This volume focuses on expressway management policies and transit improvements for Boston's southeast Corridor. Four TSM techniques: a contra-flow lane for buses; a concurrent-flow lane, ramp metering with bus priority, and automobile tolls, are considered in conjunction with five alternative transit systems offering different combinations of travel times and fares. Also, the impacts of a parking surcharge were simulated for all central area commuters, along with the various toll and metering policies. Of the composite policies tested, expressway ramp metering with an average delay of nine minutes, assuming an improved bus transit system charges $0.7 per mile, is the most feasible cost-effective option. While other composite policies would yield larger net benefits, they have little hope of achieving public, bureaucratic, and political acceptance at the present time. (UMTA)

• Supplemental Notes:
  • The Final Report: "Increasing the Productivity of Urban Expressways: Combining TSM Techniques and Transit Improvements" (PB 80-15-568) is also available from NTIS.
• Corporate Authors:

  Harvard University

  Department of City and Regional Planning, Gund Hall
  Cambridge, MA  United States  02138

  Urban Mass Transportation Administration

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Kain, J F
  • Fauth, G R
• Publication Date: 1979-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 13 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Benefit cost analysis; Bus lanes; Expressways; Impact studies; Improvements; Productivity; Ramp metering; Transportation policy; Transportation system management; Urban highways
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00322282
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: UMTA-MA-11-0031-80-2Final Rpt.
• Contract Numbers: MA|11-0031
• Files: TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 6 1981 12:00AM