Road Congestion Assessment « From theory to practice » Case of the Greater Montréal Road Network

The first part of the presentation outlines the current congestion-related concepts, the measurements and indicators used elsewhere, and it describes the method and indicators developed for Greater Montréal. The second part of the presentation explains the computerized methods used to measure queues. The systems were designed in the framework of an MTQ ongoing traffic survey program in the Montréal area, aimed at measuring the evolution of travel times. Two computerized survey methods were designed to measure the position of vehicles. The first, the Odometer technique (semi-automatic), uses vehicle odometers while the other method relies on GPS (Global Positioning System). Either apparatus allow to record, secondby-second, the exact position of vehicles and to compute running speed, travel time and position, the length and duration of queues, and delay rates. A number of computer applications were developed to process collected data and to generate synthesis reports that yield a comprehensive rendering of the morphology of congestion on the Greater Montréal road network. The results depicting queues, and travel times and speeds, were mapped and are shown in MapInfo format.