Abstract

The purpose of the research is to determine the benefits of ramp meters in the Milwaukee area freeway system, to determine

underlying relationships that permit evaluation of new ramp meters or ramp meter systems elsewhere, and to develop a

coherent framework for performing evaluation of ramp meter effectiveness on a whole system. Part 2 concentrates on the

traffic operations effect six new ramp meters had on the 14-mile long corridor where six ramp meters were already

operational. A crash rate comparison was performed between the periods the corridor operated without and with the six

new ramp meters. Metered on-ramp queue length and delay information is presented in Appendix A; details of the

operation of a metered on-ramp as well as mainline speed occupancy and volume information in the vicinity of the ramp are

presented in Appendix B.

Average corridor speeds improved when the new ramp meters were operational. Vehicle-hours of travel were lower during

the more congested afternoon peak period. It is suggested that fine-tuning of ramp metering parameters is very likely to

result in additional benefits for the corridor.

Crash rates during ramp metering hours were lower by 13% with the new ramp meters operational.