| Current methods to evaluate traffic impacts on the transportation network involve some fundamental shortcomings. First, the methods do not properly take into account regional and local traffic impacts on the transportation network simultaneously. Second, temporal distribution of traffic that is a major factor to cause transportation problems is not accurately accounted for. Third, traffic impact studies require costly and labor intensive efforts to collect necessary data and to establish traffic impact models.;In this thesis a new method called AMIS is developed for congestion management, access control, and impact simulation to overcome the shortcomings involved in the current methods. The new method is designed for a variety of scenarios such as access management strategies, land use policies, traffic impacts, and other congestion management strategies. This method can effectively be used, with little modification, anywhere in the United States. It is an improvement over the current traffic impact simulation methods that produces more reliable and accurate traffic impact estimates.;The new method mainly consists of four components: integrated regional transportation and local traffic models, sociodemographic forecasting using microsimulation, consideration of time-of-day in model estimation, and Geographic Information System as a support tool. This approach, with the four components in an integrated manner, can estimate and predict at an unprecedented detail traffic volumes in the transportation network.;The case studies conducted in this study (i.e., arterial access management, neighborhood access control, activity center/land use changes) have offered evidence that the new method, AMIS, is a credible congestion management tool. Most importantly the case studies illustrate how the new method can be used not only to estimate regional and local impacts of alternate supply management policies in a day, but virtually, on an hour by hour basis. |
