Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 48 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41-42).

The charging systems presently being used in toll facilities impose discomfort and inconvenience to patrons, in terms of delay and stops. This report presents an analytical method to estimate delay and stops in toll plazas. These variables are then utilized to evaluate user costs and toxic gases emitted in toll plazas. A large amount of information on highway user costs was collected and synthesized to be incorporated in this economic evaluation. Recommendations on the amount of toll that should be charged to take into account user costs induced by toll plazas are given in this report. / Master of Science

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a operação de praças de arrecadação de pedágio, a fim de fornecer subsídios para o seu projeto e para o estabelecimento de parâmetros e procedimentos para avaliação do nível de serviço. Os dados foram coletados em cinco praças de pedágio do estado de São Paulo, localizadas fora do meio urbano. Os aspectos operacionais estudados foram: o processo de chegadas dos veículos às praças; o perfil da velocidade durante a desaceleração dos veículos na entrada da praça; o processo de escolha da cabine pelos motoristas; o processo de atendimento dos veículos nas cabines (incluindo a forma de pagamento da tarifa); o perfil da velocidade durante a aceleração dos veículos na saída da praça; e as velocidades desenvolvidas nas cabines AVI, que são cabines que atendem somente veículos portadores da tecnologia de cobrança eletrônica de pedágio. As conclusões principais da análise dos dados coletados são: o processo de chegadas dos veículos às praças de pedágio pode ser representado por uma distribuição exponencial negativa (para intervalos curtos); modelos lineares são uma aproximação razoável para a representação do perfil da velocidade durante a desaceleração e a aceleração dos veículos nas praças; a maioria dos motoristas escolhe a cabine no mesmo lado em que chega à praça de pedágio e, uma vez selecionado o lado, se dirige à cabine com menor fila; caminhões e ônibus tendem a usar as cabines do lado direito da praça; alguns motoristas se dirigem a uma cabine com fila mesmo quando há cabines disponíveis para o atendimento naquele lado da praça; e o tempo de atendimento dos veículos nas cabines varia em função do tipo de veículo, da forma de pagamento e das características da praça com relação ao valor da tarifa, fluxo de tráfego e tipo de usuário predominante. Apresenta-se um exemplo de como esses dados podem ser usados para a determinação do nível de serviço das praças, através de um modelo de simulação, que indicou que o uso da cobrança eletrônica de pedágio reduz consideravelmente o congestionamento nas praças de pedágio: com o fluxo de tráfego próximo da capacidade da praça, o tempo médio gasto na praça é reduzido quase à metade se 10% dos usuários optarem pelo pagamento eletrônico da tarifa. / The research objective was to analyze the operation of toll plazas in order to give subsidies for its project as well as to establish parameters and procedures to evaluate the service level. The data were collected in five toll plazas in the state of São Paulo, operated in rural highways. The operational aspects studied were: the vehicle arrival process; the speed profile during deceleration at the toll plaza entrance; the process in which drivers select toll booths; the vehicle processing time at toll booths (including payment method); the speed profile during acceleration at the toll plaza exit; and the speed at AVI toll booths, which process just vehicles equipped with electronic toll collection. The conclusions of the colleted data analysis are: the vehicle arrival process can be represented by a negative exponential distribution (for short time intervals); linear models are an acceptable approach to represent the speed profile during deceleration and acceleration of vehicles at toll plazas; the majority of drivers choose the toll booth in the same side that they arrive the toll plaza and, once the side is chosen, they go to the booth with the shortest queue; trucks and buses frequently go to the right side of the toll plaza; some drivers go to a toll booth with queue despite the availability of free booths at that side of the plaza; and the vehicle processing time at toll booths varies with the vehicle type, the payment method and the plaza characteristics related with the toll value, the traffic volume and the predominant user. An example of how this data can be used to determine the service level of toll plazas is showed by using a simulation model. This model indicated that the use of electronic toll collection reduces considerably congestions at toll plazas: when the traffic flow approaches capacity, the average time spent at the toll plaza is reduced near half if 10% of the users change from manual payment to electronic payment method.

O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a operação de praças de arrecadação de pedágio, a fim de fornecer subsídios para o seu projeto e para o estabelecimento de parâmetros e procedimentos para avaliação do nível de serviço. Os dados foram coletados em cinco praças de pedágio do estado de São Paulo, localizadas fora do meio urbano. Os aspectos operacionais estudados foram: o processo de chegadas dos veículos às praças; o perfil da velocidade durante a desaceleração dos veículos na entrada da praça; o processo de escolha da cabine pelos motoristas; o processo de atendimento dos veículos nas cabines (incluindo a forma de pagamento da tarifa); o perfil da velocidade durante a aceleração dos veículos na saída da praça; e as velocidades desenvolvidas nas cabines AVI, que são cabines que atendem somente veículos portadores da tecnologia de cobrança eletrônica de pedágio. As conclusões principais da análise dos dados coletados são: o processo de chegadas dos veículos às praças de pedágio pode ser representado por uma distribuição exponencial negativa (para intervalos curtos); modelos lineares são uma aproximação razoável para a representação do perfil da velocidade durante a desaceleração e a aceleração dos veículos nas praças; a maioria dos motoristas escolhe a cabine no mesmo lado em que chega à praça de pedágio e, uma vez selecionado o lado, se dirige à cabine com menor fila; caminhões e ônibus tendem a usar as cabines do lado direito da praça; alguns motoristas se dirigem a uma cabine com fila mesmo quando há cabines disponíveis para o atendimento naquele lado da praça; e o tempo de atendimento dos veículos nas cabines varia em função do tipo de veículo, da forma de pagamento e das características da praça com relação ao valor da tarifa, fluxo de tráfego e tipo de usuário predominante. Apresenta-se um exemplo de como esses dados podem ser usados para a determinação do nível de serviço das praças, através de um modelo de simulação, que indicou que o uso da cobrança eletrônica de pedágio reduz consideravelmente o congestionamento nas praças de pedágio: com o fluxo de tráfego próximo da capacidade da praça, o tempo médio gasto na praça é reduzido quase à metade se 10% dos usuários optarem pelo pagamento eletrônico da tarifa. / The research objective was to analyze the operation of toll plazas in order to give subsidies for its project as well as to establish parameters and procedures to evaluate the service level. The data were collected in five toll plazas in the state of São Paulo, operated in rural highways. The operational aspects studied were: the vehicle arrival process; the speed profile during deceleration at the toll plaza entrance; the process in which drivers select toll booths; the vehicle processing time at toll booths (including payment method); the speed profile during acceleration at the toll plaza exit; and the speed at AVI toll booths, which process just vehicles equipped with electronic toll collection. The conclusions of the colleted data analysis are: the vehicle arrival process can be represented by a negative exponential distribution (for short time intervals); linear models are an acceptable approach to represent the speed profile during deceleration and acceleration of vehicles at toll plazas; the majority of drivers choose the toll booth in the same side that they arrive the toll plaza and, once the side is chosen, they go to the booth with the shortest queue; trucks and buses frequently go to the right side of the toll plaza; some drivers go to a toll booth with queue despite the availability of free booths at that side of the plaza; and the vehicle processing time at toll booths varies with the vehicle type, the payment method and the plaza characteristics related with the toll value, the traffic volume and the predominant user. An example of how this data can be used to determine the service level of toll plazas is showed by using a simulation model. This model indicated that the use of electronic toll collection reduces considerably congestions at toll plazas: when the traffic flow approaches capacity, the average time spent at the toll plaza is reduced near half if 10% of the users change from manual payment to electronic payment method.

Este trabalho propõe um método para análise de níveis de serviço em praças de pedágio brasileiras. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, foram levantados: (i) dados de tráfego característicos de rodovias e praças de pedágio brasileiras; (ii) características geométricas de praças de pedágio no Brasil; e (iii) a percepção de usuários de praças de pedágio de diferentes estados brasileiros acerca da qualidade de serviço em praças. Os dados de tráfego e características geométricas foram utilizados na elaboração de cenários microssimulados que buscaram representar situações de tráfego encontradas em praças de pedágio de todo o Brasil. Os cenários foram avaliados por usuários de praças de diferentes estados em pesquisa qualitativa. A pesquisa qualitativa também foi aplicada junto a técnicos responsáveis pela fiscalização e operação das praças de todo o país. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa qualitativa, foram realizadas modelagens e obtidas equações que relacionam a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos com os fatores intervenientes na percepção de qualidade de serviço utilizados na pesquisa. Os resultados indicaram que: (i) o comprimento de filas nas cabines exerce forte influência sobre a qualidade percebida nas praças por todos os grupos; (ii) existe certa uniformidade entre as percepções de qualidade de usuários de praças de todos os estados pesquisados; e (iii) existem diferenças expressivas entre as percepções de técnicos e de usuários acerca da qualidade de serviço nas praças. Este trabalho propõe escalas de níveis de serviço relacionadas com a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos, utilizando o comprimento médio de filas nas cabines como indicador de desempenho. Diferentemente do critério utilizado no HCM 2000 para avaliação de níveis de serviço em rodovias, as escalas propostas neste estudo não apresentam qualquer relação entre os níveis de serviço e a capacidade das praças. / This paper proposes a method for analyzing the level of service at Brazilian toll plazas. In order to achieve this purpose, a research was performed to identify: (i) traffic data representing the specific conditions of Brazilian highways and toll plazas; (ii) geometrical characteristics of toll plazas in Brazil; (iii) user perception about the quality of service of toll plazas across different Brazilian states. Traffic data and geometric characteristics were used to model microsimulated scenarios representing traffic situations found at toll plazas throughout Brazil. The scenarios were evaluated by toll plaza users from different Brazilian states through a qualitative research. The research was also applied to technicians from the Supervising Agencies and technicians responsible for toll plazas operation. The outcomes of the qualitative research were models relating the quality of service perceived by each group with the factors influencing their perception. The results suggest that: (i) the queue length at toll booths has a strong influence on the perceived quality in toll plazas by all groups; (ii) there is some uniformity on the quality of service of toll plazas as perceived by users from all the states surveyed; and (iii) there are significant differences between the perceptions of technicians and users about the quality of service at toll plazas. This paper proposes level of service hierarchies relating the quality perceived by the different groups to the average queue length at toll booths. Unlike the criterion used in the HCM 2000 to evaluate levels of service on highways, the hierarchies proposed in this study show no relationship between levels of service and the capacity of toll plazas.

Este trabalho propõe um método para análise de níveis de serviço em praças de pedágio brasileiras. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, foram levantados: (i) dados de tráfego característicos de rodovias e praças de pedágio brasileiras; (ii) características geométricas de praças de pedágio no Brasil; e (iii) a percepção de usuários de praças de pedágio de diferentes estados brasileiros acerca da qualidade de serviço em praças. Os dados de tráfego e características geométricas foram utilizados na elaboração de cenários microssimulados que buscaram representar situações de tráfego encontradas em praças de pedágio de todo o Brasil. Os cenários foram avaliados por usuários de praças de diferentes estados em pesquisa qualitativa. A pesquisa qualitativa também foi aplicada junto a técnicos responsáveis pela fiscalização e operação das praças de todo o país. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa qualitativa, foram realizadas modelagens e obtidas equações que relacionam a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos com os fatores intervenientes na percepção de qualidade de serviço utilizados na pesquisa. Os resultados indicaram que: (i) o comprimento de filas nas cabines exerce forte influência sobre a qualidade percebida nas praças por todos os grupos; (ii) existe certa uniformidade entre as percepções de qualidade de usuários de praças de todos os estados pesquisados; e (iii) existem diferenças expressivas entre as percepções de técnicos e de usuários acerca da qualidade de serviço nas praças. Este trabalho propõe escalas de níveis de serviço relacionadas com a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos, utilizando o comprimento médio de filas nas cabines como indicador de desempenho. Diferentemente do critério utilizado no HCM 2000 para avaliação de níveis de serviço em rodovias, as escalas propostas neste estudo não apresentam qualquer relação entre os níveis de serviço e a capacidade das praças. / This paper proposes a method for analyzing the level of service at Brazilian toll plazas. In order to achieve this purpose, a research was performed to identify: (i) traffic data representing the specific conditions of Brazilian highways and toll plazas; (ii) geometrical characteristics of toll plazas in Brazil; (iii) user perception about the quality of service of toll plazas across different Brazilian states. Traffic data and geometric characteristics were used to model microsimulated scenarios representing traffic situations found at toll plazas throughout Brazil. The scenarios were evaluated by toll plaza users from different Brazilian states through a qualitative research. The research was also applied to technicians from the Supervising Agencies and technicians responsible for toll plazas operation. The outcomes of the qualitative research were models relating the quality of service perceived by each group with the factors influencing their perception. The results suggest that: (i) the queue length at toll booths has a strong influence on the perceived quality in toll plazas by all groups; (ii) there is some uniformity on the quality of service of toll plazas as perceived by users from all the states surveyed; and (iii) there are significant differences between the perceptions of technicians and users about the quality of service at toll plazas. This paper proposes level of service hierarchies relating the quality perceived by the different groups to the average queue length at toll booths. Unlike the criterion used in the HCM 2000 to evaluate levels of service on highways, the hierarchies proposed in this study show no relationship between levels of service and the capacity of toll plazas.

Este trabalho propõe um método para análise de níveis de serviço em praças de pedágio brasileiras. Para atingir o objetivo proposto, foram levantados: (i) dados de tráfego característicos de rodovias e praças de pedágio brasileiras; (ii) características geométricas de praças de pedágio no Brasil; e (iii) a percepção de usuários de praças de pedágio de diferentes estados brasileiros acerca da qualidade de serviço em praças. Os dados de tráfego e características geométricas foram utilizados na elaboração de cenários microssimulados que buscaram representar situações de tráfego encontradas em praças de pedágio de todo o Brasil. Os cenários foram avaliados por usuários de praças de diferentes estados em pesquisa qualitativa. A pesquisa qualitativa também foi aplicada junto a técnicos responsáveis pela fiscalização e operação das praças de todo o país. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa qualitativa, foram realizadas modelagens e obtidas equações que relacionam a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos com os fatores intervenientes na percepção de qualidade de serviço utilizados na pesquisa. Os resultados indicaram que: (i) o comprimento de filas nas cabines exerce forte influência sobre a qualidade percebida nas praças por todos os grupos; (ii) existe certa uniformidade entre as percepções de qualidade de usuários de praças de todos os estados pesquisados; e (iii) existem diferenças expressivas entre as percepções de técnicos e de usuários acerca da qualidade de serviço nas praças. Este trabalho propõe escalas de níveis de serviço relacionadas com a qualidade percebida pelos diferentes grupos, utilizando o comprimento médio de filas nas cabines como indicador de desempenho. Diferentemente do critério utilizado no HCM 2000 para avaliação de níveis de serviço em rodovias, as escalas propostas neste estudo não apresentam qualquer relação entre os níveis de serviço e a capacidade das praças. / This paper proposes a method for analyzing the level of service at Brazilian toll plazas. In order to achieve this purpose, a research was performed to identify: (i) traffic data representing the specific conditions of Brazilian highways and toll plazas; (ii) geometrical characteristics of toll plazas in Brazil; (iii) user perception about the quality of service of toll plazas across different Brazilian states. Traffic data and geometric characteristics were used to model microsimulated scenarios representing traffic situations found at toll plazas throughout Brazil. The scenarios were evaluated by toll plaza users from different Brazilian states through a qualitative research. The research was also applied to technicians from the Supervising Agencies and technicians responsible for toll plazas operation. The outcomes of the qualitative research were models relating the quality of service perceived by each group with the factors influencing their perception. The results suggest that: (i) the queue length at toll booths has a strong influence on the perceived quality in toll plazas by all groups; (ii) there is some uniformity on the quality of service of toll plazas as perceived by users from all the states surveyed; and (iii) there are significant differences between the perceptions of technicians and users about the quality of service at toll plazas. This paper proposes level of service hierarchies relating the quality perceived by the different groups to the average queue length at toll booths. Unlike the criterion used in the HCM 2000 to evaluate levels of service on highways, the hierarchies proposed in this study show no relationship between levels of service and the capacity of toll plazas.

Due to the degree of complexity related to measuring the advantage of establishing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems, literature generally stops short of modeling an all-inclusive set of benefits of the system. In this research, a model that incorporates the impact on both the users and the society as a whole and evaluates the financial benefits over the lifespan of the ETC investment is developed. Most of the values for the parameters used for calculating the benefits are taken from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and from similar studies conducted by transportation agencies, which is the setting that has motivated the current research. These parameters are national averages and not region specific. The model will serve as a decision making tool to determine the number of ETC lanes over the manual and automatic lanes. The model has been used for toll plazas with different number of lanes to study the financial value of the benefits due to the ETC deployment. It is also used to study the effect of the traffic flow on the total benefits and recommendation has been made with respect to the time for the ETC deployment.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 71 pages. / Thesis (M.S.I.E.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: Due to the degree of complexity related to measuring the advantage of establishing Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems, literature generally stops short of modeling an all-inclusive set of benefits of the system. In this research, a model that incorporates the impact on both the users and the society as a whole and evaluates the financial benefits over the lifespan of the ETC investment is developed. Most of the values for the parameters used for calculating the benefits are taken from Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and from similar studies conducted by transportation agencies, which is the setting that has motivated the current research. These parameters are national averages and not region specific. The model will serve as a decision making tool to determine the number of ETC lanes over the manual and automatic lanes. / ABSTRACT: The model has been used for toll plazas with different number of lanes to study the financial value of the benefits due to the ETC deployment. It is also used to study the effect of the traffic flow on the total benefits and recommendation has been made with respect to the time for the ETC deployment. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Traffic safety has been considered one of the most important issues in the transportation field. Crashes have caused extensive human and economic losses. With the objective of reducing crash occurrence and alleviating crash injury severity, major efforts have been dedicated to reveal the hazardous factors that affect crash occurrence. With these consistent efforts, both fatalities and fatality rates from road traffic crashes in many countries have been steadily declining over the last ten years. Nevertheless, according to the World Health Organization, the world still lost 1.24 million lives from road traffic crashes in the year of 2013. And without action, traffic crashes on the roads network are predicted to result in deaths of around 1.9 million people, and up to 50 million more people suffer non-fatal injuries annually, with many incurring a disability as a result of their injury by the year 2020. To meet the transportation needs, the use of expressways (toll roads) has risen dramatically in many countries in the past decade. In fact, freeways and expressways are considered an important part of any successful transportation system. These facilities carry the majority of daily trips on the transportation network. Although expressways offer high level of service, and are considered the safest among other types of roads, traditional toll collection systems may have both safety and operational challenges. The traditional toll plazas still experience many crashes, many of which are severe. Therefore, it becomes more important to evaluate the traffic safety impacts of using different tolling systems. The main focus of the research in this dissertation is to provide an up-to-date safety impact of using different toll collection systems, as well as providing safety guidelines for these facilities to promote safety and enhance mobility on expressways. In this study, an extensive data collection was conducted that included one hundred mainline toll plazas located on approximately 750 miles of expressways in Florida. Multiple sources of data available online maintained by Florida Department of Transportation were utilized to identify traffic, geometric and geographic characteristics of the locations as well as investigating and determination of the most complete and accurate data. Different methods of observational before-after and Cross-Sectional techniques were used to evaluate the safety effectiveness of applying different treatments on expressways. The Before-After method includes Naive Before-After, Before-After with Comparison Group, and Before-After with Empirical Bayesian. A set of Safety Performance Functions (SPFs) which predict crash frequency as a function of explanatory variables were developed at the aggregate level using crash data and the corresponding exposure and risk factors. Results of the aggregate traffic safety analysis can be used to identify the hazardous locations (hot spots) such as traditional toll plazas, and also to predict crash frequency for untreated sites in the after period in the Before-After with EB method or derive Crash Modification Factors (CMF) for the treatment using the Cross-Sectional method. This type of analysis is usually used to improve geometric characteristics and mainly focus on discovering the risk factors that are related to the total crash frequency, specific crash type, and/or different crash severity levels. Both simple SPFs (with traffic volume only as an explanatory variable) and full SPFs (with traffic volume and additional explanatory variable(s)) were used to estimate the CMFs and only CMFs with lower standard error were recommended. The results of this study proved that safety effectiveness was significantly improved across all locations that were upgraded from Traditional Mainline Toll Plazas (TMTP) to the Hybrid Mainline Toll Plazas (HMTP) system. This treatment significantly reduced total, Fatal-and-Injury (F+I), and Rear-End crashes by 47, 46 and 65 percent, respectively. Moreover, this study examined the traffic safety impact of using different designs, and diverge-and-merge areas of the HMTP. This design combines either express Open Road Tolling (ORT) lanes on the mainline and separate traditional toll collection to the side (design-1), or traditional toll collection on the mainline and separate ORT lanes to the side (design-2). It was also proven that there is a significant difference between these designs, and there is an indication that design-1 is safer and the majority of crashes occurred at diverge-and-merge areas before and after these facilities. However, design-2 could be a good temporary design at locations that have low prepaid transponder (Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)) users. In other words, it is dependent upon the percentage of the ETC users. As this percentage increases, more traffic will need to diverge and merge; thus, this design becomes riskier. In addition, the results indicated significant relationships between the crash frequency and toll plaza types, annual average daily traffic, and drivers* age. The analysis showed that the conversion from TMTP to the All-Electronic Toll Collection (AETC) system resulted in an average reduction of 77, 76, and 67 percent for total, F+I, and Property Damage Only (PDO) crashes, respectively; for rear end and Lane Change Related (LCR) crashes the average reductions were 81 and 75 percent, respectively. The conversion from HMTP to AETC system enhanced traffic safety by reducing crashes by an average of 23, 29 and 19 percent for total, F+I, and PDO crashes; also, for rear end and LCR crashes, the average reductions were 15 and 21 percent, respectively. Based on these results, the use of AETC system changed toll plazas from the highest risk sections on Expressways to be similar to regular segments. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use of AETC system was proven to be an excellent solution to several traffic operations as well as environmental and economic problems. For those agencies that cannot adopt the HMTP and the AETC systems, improving traffic safety at traditional toll plazas should take a priority. This study also evaluates the safety effectiveness of the implementation of High-Occupancy Toll lanes (HOT Lanes) as well as adding roadway lighting to expressways. The results showed that there were no significant impact of the implementation of HOT lanes on the roadway segment as a whole (HOT and Regular Lanes combined). But there was a significant difference between the regular lanes and the HOT lanes at the same roadway segment; the crash count increased at the regular lanes and decreased at the HOT lanes. It was found that the total and F+I crashes were reduced at the HOT lanes by an average of 25 and 45 percent, respectively. This may be attributable to the fact that the HOT lanes became a highway within a highway. Moreover adding roadway lighting has significantly improved traffic safety on the expressways by reducing the night crashes by approximately 35 percent. Overall, the proposed analyses of the safety effectiveness of using different toll collection systems are useful in providing expressway authorities with detailed information on where countermeasures must be implemented. This study provided for the first time an up-to-date safety impact of using different toll collection systems, also developed safety guidelines for these systems which would be useful for practitioners and roadway users.