An integrated macro-micro highway demand forecasting and operational analysis approach was used in a detailed evaluation of a proposed "connector-road system", providing continuous service roads in both directions along the entire length of the Cross Bronx Expressway, one of the most congested highways in the United Stated, where service roads for handling local movements and overflow traffic are currently discontinuous in a number of sections.

The macro-level demand forecasting was performed using subarea highway networks and peak-period trip tables extracted from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council's "Best Practices Model", to which considerable local-area detail was added. The micro-level operational analysis was performed using Paramics-based micro-simulation peak period models.

The paper describes in detail the development, calibration, and application of these models, and their use in developing performance measures used as part of the evaluation of the benefits that would accrue from the provision of a continuous connector-road system in this highly-congested corridor. This work included addressing issues such as:

- limits to growth in travel in the corridor imposed by the capacity of the Expressway, which is already fully utilized during peak period.

- the importance of an accurate calibration of models at both the macro and micro levels.

- the methodologies used to calibrate the models

- the definition and calculation of the performance measures used in the utility evaluation of the proposed project