Evaluation of Operational Effects of I-66 Active Traffic Management System

In September 2015, the Virginia Department of Transportation instituted an active traffic management system on I-66 in Northern Virginia. I-66 is a major commuter route into Washington, D.C., that experiences significant recurring and nonrecurring congestion. The active traffic management system sought to manage existing capacity dynamically and more effectively with hard shoulder running, advisory variable speed limits, lane use control signs, and queue warning systems. An initial before-and-after analysis of the system’s operational effectiveness was performed with probe-based travel time data from the provider, INRIX, and used records from the active traffic management’s traffic operations center. On weekdays, statistically significant improvements were often observed during off-peak periods, but conditions did not improve during peak periods. Weekends showed the greatest improvements, with travel times and travel time reliability measures improving by 10% to 14%. Segment-level analysis revealed that most of the benefits were attained because of the use of hard shoulder running outside of the peak periods, which created additional capacity on I-66. Benefits due to advisory variable speed limits were inconclusive because of limited data.