ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF FREEWAY INCIDENT RESPONSE SYSTEMS

Described in this paper is the development of a two-phase procedure for the optimal design of nine specific types of a freeway incident response system. As a basis for analysis, individual system components were classified into three groups according to their functions and design variables: (a) detection, (b) service, and (c) detection and service. Mean response time was selected as the measure of system effectiveness. In the first phase, steps leading toward the optimal disposition of a given number of detection or service units or both in the service area were developed for each component group. The relationship between mean response time and component design variables was first derived. Mathematical programming techniques were then used to determine the optimal component design that minimizes the mean response time. The optimal allocation of a given resource (e.g., annual budget) among competing components of a total system was determined in the second phase by using the results from the first phase. Based on component interactions, the relationship between mean system response time and the response times of individual components was formulated as the objective function of a resource allocation problem. For a given resoruce, the optimal component integration for a specific type of system was generated by solving this problem. Potential applications of this two-phase procedure in system design and in evaluating alternative system types were demonstrated by numerical examples. Although analysis results and conclusions were limited to the specific types of systems and the hypothetical input data considered in this study, the methodology is general and can be applied to the planning and design of other types of systems not considered here. /Author/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1976/600/600-011.pdf
• Summary URL:
  http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=ANALYSIS+AND+DESIGN+OF+FREEWAY+INCIDENT+RESPONSE+SYSTEMS&author=C.+Lu&author=A.+May&publication_year=1976
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/03611981
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Publication of this paper sponsored by Committee on Motorist Services.. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Lu, Chyi Kang
  • May, Adolf D
• Conference:
  • 55th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1976-1-19 to 1976-1-23
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 45-51
• Monograph Title: Motorist information systems and services
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 600
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Analysis; Design; Detection and identification; Detectors; Emergency response time; Freeway operations; Freeways; Reaction time; Resource allocation; Traffic crashes; Traffic incidents
• Uncontrolled Terms: Incidents
• Old TRIS Terms: Freeway traffic accidents; Response
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00156289
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309025699
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 19 1977 12:00AM