Developing the Chicago Region Expressway Quarterly Congestion Report
Corresponding Author: Todd Schmidt, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Presented By: Todd Schmidt, Chicago Metropolitan Agency
Abstract
CMAP advocates for robust measurement of the performance of the region’s transportation system using consistent metrics, which help identify needs on the transportation network in a systematic, objective way. The quarterly congestion report is intended to provide a snapshot of highway congestion and other performance issues experienced on expressways and tollways, comparing against previous quarters to determine if congestion in the Chicago region is improving, staying constant, or getting worse over time. The congestion report includes measures for congestion and travel time reliability at the system and link level. These performance metrics were calculated using the National Performance Measure Research Data Set (NPMRDS), provided to CMAP through the Federal Highway Administration. This presentation will describe key points in the development of the quarterly congestion report including the extract, transform, and load (ETL) process of NPMRDS into a PostgreSQL database, network conflation, congestion and reliability metric calculations, and developing the application in the ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online environment. The report is currently available online at http://arcg.is/29zWS85. Lessons learned on each key point in the development process will be highlighted throughout the presentation. CMAP plans to continue to expand on the indicators reported in the congestion report to include metrics related to freight, incidents, construction activity, and potentially other areas.