Cost Benefit Analysis of Freeway Service Patrol Programs: A Case Study in Florida

Lin, Pei-Sung; Fabregas, Aldo; Chen, Hongyun

doi:10.1061/9780784412299.0001

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…The model and approach developed in their research have been used by other states, including Florida, to evaluate their own SSPs. A benefit-cost evaluation of Florida RRs using the FSP evaluation model found it was cost-effective at the state level (benefit-cost ratio of 6.68:1) and in each considered district, using 2010 data ( 5 ). However, this study did not contain any evaluations for District 3 (D3) and RR patrols have changed since 2010.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Two Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies for Improving the Response to Disabled Vehicles

McCombs

Al-Deek

Sandt

et al. 2023

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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Disabled vehicles are a common issue faced by agencies which can negatively affect traffic operations and safety. A wide range of response strategies exist, but determining which are best for a region can be challenging. After surveying 60 U.S. traffic incident management stakeholders, two commonly suggested improvements to disabled vehicle response strategies were: 1) expanding safety service patrols (SSPs) and 2) increasing towing capabilities. This paper develops a congestion-based methodology for quantifying the congestion reduction benefits of implementing these improved strategies for addressing disabled vehicles, specifically expanding SSP patrol hours and implementing instant dispatch tow (IDT) programs. Using 2019 incident data from three Florida, U.S., limited access roadways, the estimated congestion costs caused by disabled vehicles on the studied roadways were over $20 million. The estimated congestion savings for expanding Road Rangers (Florida’s SSP) ranged from $196,315 to $1,413,641 ($14,023 to $20,488 per incident). Implementing an IDT program had estimated congestion savings ranging from $398,353 to $3,910,299 ($9,264 to $76,485 per incident). IDT programs would address more disabled vehicle incidents than Road Ranger expansions, making the benefits substantially higher, especially on urban roadways. Based on the results, it is recommended that agencies prioritize IDT deployment on urban roadways with long incident durations for the most immediate benefits. An IDT program would also be able to address other types of incident, likely making the benefits greater than those estimated in this paper. Agencies nationwide can use this paper’s methodology and results to help identify effective regional disabled vehicle transportation systems management and operations strategies.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Two Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies for Improving the Response to Disabled Vehicles

McCombs

Al-Deek

Sandt

et al. 2023

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Deciding the roadways covered and the hours of operation for an SSP can be a difficult balancing act to ensure that an agency is maximizing available resources. A 2012 benefit-cost evaluation of the RR program found it to be cost-effective in each district and at the state level, with a statewide benefit-cost ratio of 6.68:1 ( 12 ). However, this evaluation focused on lane-blocking events and the impacts associated with them, such as traffic congestion and environmental impacts.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing Disabled Vehicle Incident Durations and Crash Response to Identify Service Patrol Expansions and Reduce the Need for Law Enforcement Involvement

McCombs

Al-Deek

Sandt

et al. 2022

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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Florida’s Road Rangers (RRs) are the state’s safety service patrol. Over 60% of RR responses are for disabled vehicles. This paper investigates the impact RRs have on disabled vehicle events and identifies roads with potential for expansion of RR patrol hours by analyzing 2019 incident and crash data. Over 213,000 disabled vehicle incidents occurred on roadways with partial RR coverage, with 20% occurring during RR inactive periods. The average incident duration more than doubled during inactive periods from 49 min to 100 min. After analyzing several factors, such as incident duration differences and percentage of inactive events, I-10 in Florida’s panhandle was identified as the roadway which would most benefit from increased patrol hours. Ninety-five disabled vehicle crashes occurred on roadways with partial RR coverage, with 56% occurring during inactive patrol hours; these inactive period crashes resulted in 70% of the injuries and 67% of the fatalities. The Tampa area had many crashes (especially during inactive periods), so roadways in this area would benefit from increased patrol hours. A significant relationship between RR presence and response activity duration was found, with an average response activity duration of 106 min during inactive periods and 71 min during active periods. These results show the importance of increasing the periods of RR coverage and how RRs assist law enforcement by responding to disabled vehicle events and their associated crashes, allowing law enforcement to focus their efforts on more severe crashes or other traffic-impacting events.

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“…In the social benefits calculation, the value of travel time can be estimated by studying the local hourly salary, percentage of trucks on roadways, and average vehicle occupancy/truck rate. Lin et al conducted a review of Florida RRSP in 2012and provided a cost–benefit analysis listing the value of travel time in Florida per operation zone ( 16 ).…”

Section: Design Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Operational cost per truck was set at $56 per hour, based on recommendations by RRSP project managers. Other parameters including fuel factors, emission factors, and value of travel time used are taken from a benefit analysis report of RRSP by Lin et al ( 17 ). The value of waiting time was estimated as $70 per hour, considering the average towing cost.…”

Section: Case Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for the Design of Safety Service Patrol Beats: The Florida Road Ranger Case Study

Sun

Shahabi

Carrick³

et al. 2018

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation R

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This paper introduces a framework for the design and deployment of safety service patrols (SSP) on freeways. Three mathematical programming models are proposed, with the targets of minimizing fleet size and total average response time and maximizing social benefits to accommodate various design objectives. Fast heuristic algorithms based on neighborhood searching techniques are presented for solving the optimization problems. In addition, a computer tool with a graphical user interface has been developed that takes roadway segments information as the input and provides real-world recommendations for deployment. The tool was tested using nearly 800 unique Florida roadway segments, totaling over 2,000 centerline freeway miles. The results were consistent with more than 100 current beats of Florida Road Ranger service patrols, and will be used for budget forecasting for the state.

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Cost Benefit Analysis of Freeway Service Patrol Programs: A Case Study in Florida

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Evaluation of Two Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies for Improving the Response to Disabled Vehicles

Evaluation of Two Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations Strategies for Improving the Response to Disabled Vehicles

Analyzing Disabled Vehicle Incident Durations and Crash Response to Identify Service Patrol Expansions and Reduce the Need for Law Enforcement Involvement

Methods for the Design of Safety Service Patrol Beats: The Florida Road Ranger Case Study

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