policy brief

Connected Vehicle Technology and AI Could Help Reduce Highway Congestion through Better Utilization of Park and Ride Facilitie

Publication Date

September 7, 2023

Author(s)

Mohamad Habib Fakih, Mohammad Abdullah Al Faruque, Mohanad Odema, Tyler Zhang

Areas of Expertise

Infrastructure Delivery, Operations, & Resilience Intelligent Transportation Systems, Emerging Technologies, & Big Data

Abstract

Considerable advancements have been made in traffic management strategies to address highway congestion over the past decades; however, the continuous growth of metropolitan regions has impeded such progress. In response, transportation planners have given special attention to integrated corridor management (ICM), an approach that coordinates various traffic control units (e.g., ramp metering) to optimize their operations along the entire freeway. Emerging connected vehicle (CV) technology is expected to substantially benefit ICM, where vehicles can communicate with each other and surrounding roadway infrastructure. The combined potential of ICM strategies and CVs could be even greater if combined with strategies that leverage underutilized infrastructure (specifically park-and-ride facilities) to reduce the total number of vehicles on the roadway.