Las Vegas Valley Congestion Management System

Orth-Rodgers & Associates, Inc. (ORA) developed a Congestion Management System (CMS) for the entire Las Vegas Valley under contract with the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada. This system consists of two portions, a congested corridor identification tool and mitigation strategy selection tool.

The congested corridor identification tool, called the Congestion Analysis System (CAS), is an automated database system and measures four different components of congestion: intensity – a measure of the concentration of congestion, duration – the number of hours congestion occurs during a typical day, extent – the number of persons or vehicles affected by congestion, and reliability – a measure of the affects of nonrecurring congestion on the roadway.

The mitigation strategy selection tool is also automated and spreadsheet based. The pool of strategies used in the CMS represents the state of the practice in congestion mitigation tactics. Often strategies identified for a particular corridor represent ideas not normally considered in the Valley. Additionally, the strategy toolbox contains a wellrounded mix of transit, pedestrian, operations, and capacity improvements as well as trip elimination and reduction opportunities.

Unique features of the system include: multiple linkages to TransCAD and the RTC travel demand model; inclusion valley-specific information such as incident rates, crash rates, signal cycle lengths, and truck data; and use of readily available software and a completely open format. The graphic below depicts the CMS process.