Modeling Operational Performance of Urban Roads With Heterogenous Traffic Conditions

Several urban areas are building new facilities to encourage users of alternative modes of transportation (e.g., public transportation, walking, and bicycling). The existing infrastructure is changed to accommodate/ encourage these alternative mode users. However, there is not enough evidence to justify whether such plans are instrumental in improving mobility and enhancing safety of the transportation system from a multimodal perspective Therefore, the goal of this research is to model the operational performance and safety of urban roads with heterogeneous traffic conditions to improve the safety, reliability, and mobility of people and goods. A two-step approach is used to assess the operational performance of the urban roads with heterogeneous conditions. Firstly, a travel time reliability-based modeling and analysis was conducted to analyze the transportation system performance comprehensively accounting for all the modes of transportation. Secondly, a simulation-based modeling and analysis was conducted to assess the effect of light rail transit (LRT), pedestrian activity, bicyclist activity, and traffic, individually or combined, on the operational performance of the transportation system. Further, surrogate safety assessment was conducted to check the effect of LRT, pedestrian activity, bicyclist activity, and traffic, individually or combined, on the overall safety performance of the transportation system. Notable effects on operational and safety performance were observed between the modeled and evaluated hypothetical scenarios, emphasizing the need to plan and build infrastructure by evaluating complex mobility patterns and interactions between all the mode users. The proposed methodological framework is cross-disciplinary, transferable, and can be applied to other regions.