AASHTO Journal, 16 August 2013
A report published by the Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University shows work done last year to widen and reconstruct I-465 has improved mobility for drivers, while other INDOT projects have contributed to the continuing improvement of the state’s transportation system.
The 2012 Indiana Mobility Report, published July 30, shows the impacts of various transportation projects across the state, as well as ranks congestion on Indiana interstates (indicating increases or decreases in driver travel time). According to the report, congestion on Indiana’s interstate system has been cut between 6 and 18 percent since 2011. Additionally, the report highlights that the most occurrences of “significant congestion” come from construction, severe weather, and nonrecurring incidents.
INDOT’s mobility reports are used to help the department and policymakers shape future infrastructure investment priorities.
“INDOT is committed to efficient management of our capital program and operations activities to deliver a high-quality surface transportation system at the lowest cost,” said Ed Cox, INDOT’s managing engineer for corridor operations. “In collaboration with our partners at Purdue University, we are integrating commercial probe vehicle data into INDOT processes to quantitatively manage our operations activities, shape our infrastructure priorities and measure the impact of those investments.”The data used for the report is provided by third parties, such as INRIX, which collects the information anonymously from speed records from navigation systems, cell phones, and other electronic devices. That information is then used for online and local media traffic reports in the form of red-yellow-green map overlays.
The 2012 Indiana Mobility Report can be found here.