Quantifying non-recurrent traffic congestion caused by freeway work zones using archived work zone and ITS traffic data

Non-recurrent traffic congestion has been estimated using the capacity and the number of closed lanes in work zones and the upstream traffic demand of work zones. However, the number of closed lanes may be meaningless due to operational strategies, such as using the shoulder area and composing an additional lane by temporarily reducing the existing lane width to mitigate traffic congestion. The objective of this study is to develop a method to quantify non-recurrent traffic congestion caused by freeway work zones based on traffic flow data and spatio-temporal work zone information. In addition, to demonstrate the efficacy of the developed method, a case study is performed using 1-year historical traffic data and work zone data on major freeways in Korea.