Knowledge Resources

This study investigated the feasibility of implementing a Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation System (CVHAS) to improve the performance of bus rapid transit (BRT) operations and freight movement in Chicago, Illinois. The sites chosen for the case study included a metropolitan bus rapid transit circulator system and an intermodal freight interchange system at the port of Chicago.

ANALYSIS OF CVHAS APPLICATIONS FOR TRUCK/FREIGHT MOVEMENT

Using available rail rights-of-way, a new truck-only facility was proposed to serve a selected set of intermodal rail yards, industrial parks, and points-of-entry to the region. The following CVHAS technologies were evaluated to determine their impacts on truck operations:

• Automatic steering control
• Automatic longitudinal control in platoons
• Fully automated driving

The economic feasibility of these technologies was evaluated by comparing five alternative operational concepts.

Alternative 1

• Baseline (no CVHAS technologies, no truck-only facilities)

Alternative 2

• Truck-only facility without CVHAS technologies, open to all trucks
• One standard 12-foot lane in each direction prior to the Year 2015, and a second lane added for several segments of the facility by the Year 2015

Alternative 3

• Truck-only facility with CVHAS technologies (automatic steering) for equipped trucks only
• One 10-foot lane in each direction. Automatic steering control makes it possible for equipped trucks to follow lanes very accurately. For maximum width trucks of 9 feet, lanes need only be 10 feet wide rather than the standard 12 feet

Alternative 4

• Truck-only facility with fully automated CVHAS technologies (automatic steering, automatic speed and spacing control with two or three truck platoons if warranted) for equipped trucks only
• One 10-foot lane in each direction

Alternative 5

• Truck-only facility without CVHAS technologies before Year 2015
• At Year 2015, upgrading the facility to be an automated truck-way (automatic steering, speed and spacing control with two or three truck platoons)
• One standard 12-foot lane in each direction

A benefit-cost analysis was performed for each alternative operational concept. The analysis used an annual discount rate of seven percent over a period of twenty years (2005 to 2025).

• The costs associated with each alternative included the following primary cost categories:
• Construction costs of truck-only roadway
• Right-of-way costs
• Annual facility operation and maintenance cost
• CVHAS equipment and installation costs (facility)
• CVHAS equipment and installation costs (vehicles)

The Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) travel forecast model was used to estimate the impacts of CVHAS on the proposed facility for the year 2003. These data were further extrapolated to estimate impacts in future years.

FINDINGS

For comparison purposes, the evaluation results below—excerpted from Table 4.16 of the report—are expressed in terms of 2003 dollars.

	Alternative 2	Alternative 3	Alternative 4	Alternative 5
Travel time savings	$2,938,473,072	$2,185,796,310	$1,931,338,450	$2,981,926,571
Reduction of fuel consumption	$6,893,874	$5,128,039	$46,257,595	$24,505,307
Total	$2,945,366,946	$2,190,924,349	$1,977,596,045	$3,006,431,878

Accounting for increased demand and the assumption that the relative costs of each technology would decrease in future years, a t-test indicated that Alternative 5 was economically feasible compared to the baseline case with no truck-only facility.