Chicago, Illinois, United States
Assessment of the Applicability of Cooperative Vehicle-Highway Automation Systems to Bus Transit and Intermodal Freight: Case Study Feasibility Analyses in the Metropolitan Chicago Region
Summary Information
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.
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
Alternative 1
- Baseline (no CVHAS technologies, no truck-only facilities)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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)
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.