SPONSOR: Portland State University Faculty Enhancement Award

BUDGET: $7,500

ABSTRACT: Certain performance measures were generated for a freeway corridor in Portland, Oregon (eastbound US 26) using loop detector data. The US 26 Sunset Highway is the major east-west corridor connecting downtown Portland to the burgeoning west side, including major residential communities as well as Silicon Forest, containing the region's high tech industry. The study shows that with the use of real data, it is possible to determine the functionality of the facility with respect to measures such as mobility, economic development, quality of life, the environment, resource conservation and safety. Because surveillance systems are often already in place for traffic management purposes in urban areas, archived data can easily be used to develop performance measures in real time and to track them over time. This concept can be applied to specific corridors of interest or to an entire metropolitan area. This kind of information can help agencies have a better vision of the current performance of the transportation network, its evolution over time, as well as aiding in setting clear goals and objectives to improve the performance of the facility.