AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF TRAVEL TIME RELIABILITY FOR LOCAL CITY BYPASS PROJECT

Abstract

While a typical effect of bypass improvement is a reduction in travel time, there is also an improvement in travel time reliability due to capacity expansion as a regional transportation network. In this study, travel time reliability was analyzed using ETC2.0 data traveling on the Higashi-Hiroshima BP that opened in March 2023. In this analysis, the travel time reduction and the reliability of travel time was also examined by including the expressway section that serves as an alternative route to the Higashi-Hiroshima BP. Although the opening of the Higashi-Hiroshima BP has improved the average travel time and travel time reliability for the entire segment, the travel time reliability for each segment revealed that the trends differed by segment. The travel time reliability of the alternative highway segments also improved after the opening of the BP, although not as much as for the BP route.