Risk-Based Priority Setting for Large-Scale Access Management Programs with Uncertain Mobility Benefits and Costs

Abstract

Access management is a set of strategies used by transportation planners to address mobility concerns without the need for major highway expansions. Although access management can significantly improve highway mobility, congestion, and safety, limited resources prevent transportation agencies from managing each access point within their network. Therefore, there is a need for a macrolevel framework that helps these agencies in prioritizing their access management needs. This research contributes to the transportation planning field by developing a two-phase methodology that prioritizes competing needs for access management across a large network of highways. The first phase, filtering, evaluates the economic efficiency of access management projects from a travel time improvement perspective. This phase extends current risk–cost–benefit analysis methods, which integrate risk analysis and cost–benefit analysis with data uncertainties. The second phase, classification, identifies a set of site-specific qualitative and quantitative factors that can affect the travel time of road users. These factors are used to set priorities for access management projects. The developed methodology was demonstrated by applying it to thousands of access points located on four major US routes. The results are of interest to transportation planners, safety managers, and state and local municipalities.