Regional Traffic Monitoring System for Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Dr. Gang-Len Chang

Traffic Safety and Operations LabUniversity of Maryland, College Park

Aug, 2012

Contents Project motivation & goals Eastern shore overview Traffic monitoring system Travel time prediction system Evacuation system Hurricane Irene Summary

Motivation (1) During the peak season, the

Eastern shore is plagued with heavy congestion from tourists desiring to enter the Ocean City area. An accurate travel time prediction

system is needed to provide motorists with information effecting route choice

Motivation (2) Maryland’s Eastern shore is prone

to hurricane threats During hurricane season, the Eastern

shore is crowded with tourists An evacuation plan is needed to

safely and efficiently move people from the immediate impact area

Research Goals1. To provide a safe and efficient

evacuation plan based on empirical data

2. Provide accurate travel time information to mitigate traveler delay

Eastern Shore Region Counties: Cecil, Kent,

Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Caroline, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester

Total population: 449,226 (2010 U.S Census Bureau)

Major arterials: US 301, US 50, US 13, US 113, MD 662, MD 565, MD 16, MD 90

Eastern Shore Region Real-Time Traffic Monitoring System

43 microwave sensor stations are maintained and operated by UM

Wireless communication between sensors and UM

Data collection 30 seconds interval data

by each lane (volume, speed, occupancy)

UM provides data to MDSHA, DelDOT, and other agencies via RITIS

Sensor Stations

Eastern Shore Region Real-Time Traffic Monitoring System Provides real-time traffic

conditions (speed and volume)

UM Website (http://oceancity.umd.edu)

CHART (http://chart.state.md.us)

Interactive speed map of eastern shore region with locations of sensor

Provides historical sensor data

Website Display Website (http://oceancity.umd.edu)

Travel Time Prediction US 50 MD 90

Sensor Locations Current Sensor Data Historical Sensor Data Historical Predicted Travel Time

Interactive

mapping

Current Detector

Data

Historical traffic data, travel time, OC traffic,

evacuations

Website Display (Cont’d)

(a) Real time predicted travel time (b) Current detector data

(c) Current speed map

(d) Current volume map

Website Display (Cont’d)

(e) Historical detector data (f) Historical travel times

Ocean City Ocean City, MD

A famous tourist destination in Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Population Summer peak season:

150,000 – 300,000 people Off-peak: 7,000 – 25,000

Serious congestion on the major eastbound entry road (US 50 and MD 90)

Ocean City Travel Time Prediction System Two routes from Hall Road to Ocean City (MD90,

US50) Travel time may vary from 15 minutes to 90 min

23 detectors for travel time predictions Including 18 HD traffic sensors

Travel Time System Operation Flowchart Prediction travel time

every minute Detection of incidents Handling of missing

data

Database of Traffic Data

t=t+1

Real-Time Detector

Data at Time t

Travel Time Estimation Module

Missing Data Estimation Module

Incident Detection Module

Database of Historical

Travel Times

Travel Time Prediction Module

Predicted Travel Time for Time t

Data Missing?

N

Stop Predicting

for Impacted Segments

Links with Detected Incident

Links with No Detected Incident

Y

N Links with Unreliable

Missing Data

Links with Reliable Missing Data Estimation

Only

VMS Display ATIS (Advanced

Travelers Information System) Travel time

information for both routes

Route guidance to travelers

Traffic conditions toward to Ocean City

LPR System Two LPR trailers are deployed

Hall Road and Inlet Isle Lane Data is collected for travel time

estimation and for prediction module calibration

Travel Time Information System

Provide real-time travel time information to drivers

The system showed positive effects on drivers’ route choice behavior during congested condition

Assist travelers in making proper route choice

More efficient use of existing roadway capacity

Efficiency in Relieving Congestion and Increasing Throughput from VMS

6492 603

7

Time-varying system throughputs to Ocean City (With VMS versus without VMS) Peak-season

Saturday

Evacuation System Organizing an evacuation plan

Identifying critical control points Develop traffic control

parameters Improving efficiency

Satellite image of hurricane Irene Aug 2011

Evacuation System (cont’d)

Simulator tool for eastern shore region emergency evacuation

Off-line simulator (old version) On-line simulator (new version)

User friendly interface Output can be used to analyze

evacuation plans by: DOTs (MD, DE, VA) Emergency management agencies

Interstate 45 at Houston, TexasEvacuation from hurricane Katrina 2005

Evacuation systemSystem Demonstration

System demonstration

•Total throughput for each target area

System demonstration

•Hourly volume for each target area

System demonstration

•Speed changes over time

System demonstration

•Identified Bottleneck

Ocean City Traffic Data Before and After Evacuation

Evacuation for Hurricane Irene

Aug 2011

Number of vehicles in ocean city8/18/2011 – 9/13/2011

Evacuation 8/25/2011 14:00 ~ 8/26/2011 17:00

Number of Vehicles in Ocean City During Evacuation

Evacuation 8/25/2011 14:00 ~ 8/26/2011 17:00

Number of Vehicles Changes in Ocean City During Evacuation

MD 528 US 50 MD 90 TOTAL ChangeDate INBOUND OUTBOUND INBOUND OUTBOUND INBOUND OUTBOUND INBOUND OUTBOUND

08/25/2011 14:00 959 1063 1303 1319 774 840 3036 3222 -18608/25/2011 15:00 1082 1168 1503 1386 842 912 3427 3466 -3908/25/2011 16:00 1094 1394 1375 1661 827 1313 3296 4368 -107208/25/2011 17:00 1166 1540 1268 1547 702 1260 3136 4347 -121108/25/2011 18:00 1094 1607 1232 1590 595 1306 2921 4503 -158208/25/2011 19:00 906 1469 1054 1389 419 1258 2379 4116 -173708/25/2011 20:00 764 1228 813 1305 407 1178 1984 3711 -172708/25/2011 21:00 586 979 647 978 480 553 1714 2510 -79608/25/2011 22:00 359 647 437 824 294 680 1091 2151 -106008/25/2011 23:00 212 386 262 523 169 479 643 1388 -74508/26/2011 0:00 53 208 76 326 35 285 164 819 -65408/26/2011 1:00 31 91 43 109 27 144 100 344 -24408/26/2011 2:00 15 64 18 69 13 64 46 197 -15108/26/2011 3:00 12 50 18 69 14 96 43 215 -17208/26/2011 4:00 12 120 22 111 23 222 56 453 -39708/26/2011 5:00 32 223 67 170 55 404 153 797 -64408/26/2011 6:00 128 319 190 279 154 559 472 1157 -68408/26/2011 7:00 217 515 299 444 296 732 813 1691 -87808/26/2011 8:00 320 686 356 570 286 896 963 2152 -118908/26/2011 9:00 285 714 407 622 203 1010 895 2346 -1451

08/26/2011 10:00 301 828 312 966 174 956 787 2750 -196308/26/2011 11:00 294 873 229 836 100 1015 622 2724 -210208/26/2011 12:00 210 550 238 731 105 783 553 2064 -151108/26/2011 13:00 167 418 241 610 44 580 453 1608 -115508/26/2011 14:00 146 347 236 484 30 438 412 1269 -85708/26/2011 15:00 87 258 168 428 23 362 278 1048 -77008/26/2011 16:00 81 169 122 336 14 330 216 835 -61908/26/2011 17:00 47 124 42 215 10 207 99 546 -447

Inbound/Outbound Traffic Volume from Ocean City 8/18/2011 – 9/13/2011

8/19

/201

18/

20/2

011

8/21

/201

18/

22/2

011

8/23

/201

18/

24/2

011

8/25

/201

18/

26/2

011

8/27

/201

18/

28/2

011

8/29

/201

18/

30/2

011

8/31

/201

19/

1/20

119/

2/20

119/

3/20

119/

4/20

119/

5/20

119/

6/20

11

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000

Inbound/Outbound Volumes before and after Irene

TOTAL INBOUND

Vehi

cles

Evacuation 8/25/2011 14:00 ~ 8/26/2011 17:00

Inbound/Outbound Traffic Volume from Ocean City 8/25/2011 – 8/30/2011

0500

100015002000250030003500400045005000

Total In/Out Volumes between 8/25 - 8/30

Total Inbound

Vehi

cles

Evacuation 8/25/2011 14:00 ~ 8/26/2011 17:00

Hourly Evacuation Route Usage 8/25/2011 – 8/26/2011

00.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.9

1 Hourly Evacuation Route Usage Ratio 8/25 - 8/26

MD 528 US 50 MD 90

Ratio

(ro

ute

volu

me

/ tot

al v

olum

e)

Evacuation 8/25/2011 14:00 ~ 8/26/2011 17:00 * Only outbound volume

Evacuation route usage

Eastern Shore Region Traffic Monitoring System - Summary Traffic Monitoring System

Provides 43 detectors’ real-time traffic data Provides historical data

Travel Time Prediction System Provides travel time to motorists Improves usage of existing roadway capacity Detects incidents Provides traffic condition ahead

Evacuation System On-line and off-line simulation tool with advanced GUI Evaluating evacuation plans Identifying critical control points Estimating time needed for evacuation Improving efficiency of evacuation

Thank youQuestions & Comments

Dr. Gang-Len Changgang@umd.eduSung Yoon Park

alza102@gmail.com