Estimation of Road User Costs for Work Zones in Data-Limited or Time-Constrained Environments

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of estimating road user costs (RUCs), such as travel time and delays, for roadway construction projects under time and data limitations. RUCs measure the mobility impacts of construction work zones on public roads. RUC metrics are typically used in construction phases to determine the project’s incentives and disincentives. However, determining RUC can be challenging due to scarce traffic data availability, incomplete construction plans, and limited time to conduct analysis. In this paper, we use traffic microsimulation to estimate the RUC for each hour of a typical 24-h day using 11 construction cases in Dallas, Texas. Our primary contribution includes developing relationships between peak-hour RUC measures with respect to the total daily values. Such relationships would allow an estimation of the full day RUC based only on the analysis of the peak hour. The main results suggest that the peak-hour travel time as a fraction of the daily value is, on average, 8.2%, comparable to typical percentages of the peak-hour traffic volumes. Furthermore, the models for predictive relationships using construction scenario demand and capacity show high correlation coefficients, presenting a potential for the development of such relationships for roadway construction projects.