Evaluation of Ramp Metering Effectiveness Along the I-35 Corridor in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area [Technical Summary]

Details

• Creators:
  Kondyli, Alexandra ; Schrock, Steven D. ; Tabatabaei, Mahgam ; Kummetha, Vishal C.
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Kansas. Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  Kansas Department of Transportation. Bureau of Research
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bottlenecks Crashes Peak Periods Ramp Metering Traffic Congestion
• Resource Type:
  Brief
• Geographical Coverage:
  Kansas;United States
• Edition:
  Technical Summary
• Corporate Publisher:
  Kansas Department of Transportation. Bureau of Research
• Abstract:
  This research investigated the safety and operational benefits of ramp metering along the I-35 corridor in the Kansas City metropolitan area. A before-and-after study was conducted to compare selected performance measures, with a “before” period from August 2015 to December 2015 and an “after” period from October 2021 to February 2022. The research evaluation focused on six locations during morning and afternoon peak periods. Analysis of crash frequency revealed a significant crash reduction range of 54.8%–83.3%, except at the I-35 N @ 7th St. Trfy. location, where the number of crashes remained unchanged. Crash rates also decreased 13%–82.5% at most locations, except for the I-35 N @ 7th St. Trfy. location, where the crash rate increased by 5.8% due to reduced traffic volumes. In addition, most locations had increased speeds, and locations that previously experienced recurring congestion became uncongested during peak hours. Most notable average speed gains without significant flow rate changes were observed at the I-35 S @ 7th St. location (20% during afternoon peak), the I-35 S @ Southwest Blvd. location (39.5% during morning peak and 72.8% during afternoon peak), and the I-35 N @ Johnson Dr. location (30.6% during morning peak). Because the results demonstrated their vast safety and operational benefits, this study recommends continued deployment of ramp meters along the I-35 corridor. However, the ramp meters at I-35 N @ 7th St. Trfy. should be further investigated since no safety or operational benefits were identified.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  C2071
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:de2ad865afd9fbaa37798f3c148645ed96378c9688b47ffb64dc880a18d50af178e25b39a6ad47c271c961b81c5bd23706c8d05c6155f8805aa69b0ae0a2569b
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/74611/dot_74611_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 270.96 KB ]