Activity-Based Model (ABM) and Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) Integration Reached a Major Breakthr

Legislation over the past few years has placed additional emphasis on a variety of areas including Sustainability, Management and Operations (M&O), Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technology applications, Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, and Planning for Operations and Performance Measures. To address the strategies, policies, and projects that support pertinent regional initiatives, transportation agencies are pairing Dynamic Traffic Assignment (DTA) models with travel demand models. DTA models mitigate the limitations of the static assignment procedures found in Four-Step and Activity-Based Models (ABMs) and better account for capacity constraints, peaking characteristics exhibited by the diurnal distribution of demand, non- recurring congestion (e.g., incidents, special events, etc.), emergency network failure (e.g., I-85 bridge collapse in Atlanta) and analysis of ITS strategies, among others.

Metropia is supporting the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) in their efforts to continue advancing the state of practice by integrating a DTA model with their ABM model, which is of CT-RAMP type developed by WSP. Metropia is utilizing DynusT, a powerful DTA model, to accomplish the objectives of this project and is modifying it, as needed, to enhance ARC and ODOT capabilities in terms of analyzing future strategies and projects, including dynamically priced lanes and evacuation scenarios, among others. The project is being funded by FHWA’s SHRP2 C10 program.

(Source: WSP)