DMS Travel Time Pilot Project Evaluation: Final Report

"The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) has been ... developing freeway travel times for the last several years on Phoenix metropolitan area freeways. Travel times in the region were first developed by the AZTechTM partnerships. ADOT loop detector data was used and the travel time algorithm was tested and validated on I-17. In January 2008, ADOT initiated a pilot project to display freeway travel times on selected dynamic message signs (DMS) in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Travel Time Pilot Project included travel time messages being displayed on 12 DMS ... These sign locations were intended to be visible to the largest number of freeway weekday commuters on the most heavily traveled freeway corridors in the Phoenix metropolitan area. An evaluation of the pilot project was conducted to identify if there were any impacts to freeway speed, mobility, or crash rates. An integral part of the evaluation also was to obtain user feedback on the Travel Time Pilot Program ... [T]he perceived value of the DMS travel times by regular users of the freeway network ... will be an important justification for ADOT to continue and/or expand the ... Program. The goals of the DMS Travel Time Pilot Program evaluation were to: evaluate impacts to freeway operations and freeway mobility as a result of posting travel time messages on DMS during peak hour travel; evaluate and document customer response to freeway travel time messages for use in development enhancements or recommended modifications to the DMS Travel Time Pilot Program; and, compare the accuracy of travel time messages being displayed with actual travel times" --Executive summary