Reducing congestion during road works through travel demand management

Abstract

Travel demand management research indicates that a quarter of drivers in London are willing and are able to change their behaviour when provided with persuasive travel advice. Enhanced information and travel advice about road works at a site in London in 2015 were communicated to the public, to mitigate congestion and to reduce customer impact. Data from automatic number plate recognition cameras from a neutral period were compared with data from the first week of road works to determine the rate of change in drivers’ behaviour. The same comparison was carried out for a control site without enhanced communications, and the difference between the rates of change was calculated to determine the effect of better communications. The data indicated that around 14% of frequent drivers were seen to have changed their time of travel or route through the road works, as a result of better communications. The monetised social benefit of that behaviour change set against the cost of enhanced communications generated a benefit:cost ratio of more than 4:1. Customer surveys indicated that the reputation of the highway authority was also upheld through the work periods.