The College of New Jersey School of Engineering provides undergraduate students with many opportunities to get involved in professors’ labs, write publications, and present at conferences. Undergraduate civil engineering senior Ryan Gurriell worked with Dr. Brennan to analyze aggregated probe data to understand the dependency in regional traffic congestions. Ryan had the opportunity to represent TCNJ by presenting his findings in Washington, D.C.!

Read the full abstract below.

 

Title: Performance Metrics For Visualizing Interdependent Regional Traffic Congestion Using Aggregated Probe Vehicle Data

Undergraduate Civil Engineer Senior: Ryan A. Gurriell

Professor: Thomas Brennan 

Abstract

Big data from probe vehicles is an important contributor for determining the regional performance of a transportation roadway network. Recent research has applied aggregated probe vehicle speed data to quantify the changes in travel time as a result of recurring and non-recurring congestion. Through the establishment of a base travel time for all roadway segments in a region, any increased travel time characteristics can be quantified temporally and spatially. This characterization is especially important when determining the regional resiliency of a major change to the roadway network. This paper demonstrates how aggregated probe speed data can be used to characterize and visualize the interdependencies of multi-regional congestion. To demonstrate the methodologies, an analysis of the I-276 Bridge closure in Burlington County, NJ near Philadelphia, PA was conducted.  The bridge was closed after a routine inspected identified a crack in one of the structural members. In total, 90 days of data, which included 90-million speed records commercially collected for 1,765 roadway segments, was analyzed. A performance metric was developed to allow an impact analysis by comparing Burlington County to two adjacent counties, Mercer and Camden. The results show that the bridge closure did have a definitive, quantifiable impact on the adjacent counties. Subsequent analysis identified specific roadways that were most impacted by the closure. Although this research explores historic speed data, the methodologies presented can be applied to real-time speed data.

Congestion for NJDOT-maintained roadways in Mercer, Burlington, and Camden, NJ