Utilizing CORSIM and GIS to Develop Alternatives For Improved Traffic Operations Along Highway 2 Minot, North Dakota

The City of Minot commissioned an update to the Transportation Plan for US Highway 2 between US Highway 83 and the Burdick Expressway. The potential for growth along this corridor for the next 20 years is relatively high for a city with an existing population of 35,000. The existing Highway 2 corridor has several uncontrolled access points that lessen driver expectancy along a typical highway. The purpose of the study was to assess traffic operations for the existing and future conditions on the existing roadway and determine viable alternatives to mitigate possible congestion areas. The traffic simulation was performed using the CORSIM program. Field traffic conditions such as queue lengths and speeds were used to calibrate the simulation of existing conditions. Sophisticated customized programming was utilized to efficiently extract, calculate, and summarize key signalized and unsignalized intersections as well as corridor wide measures of effectiveness (MOEs) from the numerous computer simulations performed. Evaluated MOEs included travel times and level of service. In addition to the traffic simulation, a GIS was used to help demonstrate that an increase in traffic through the uncontrolled access points along Highway 2 could increase already high accident locations. A GIS summarized a database of over 7,000 accident records within the city. The GIS was used to extract several accident characteristics including frequency, type, and severity. The analysis and presentation tools of the GIS were used to demonstrate that corridor wide improvements could alleviate some of the safety-related problems within the corridor. This case study presents a detailed workflow in approaching diverse but inter-related objectives, including quality control, utilizing GIS, and custom programming to efficiently and concisely present detailed MOEs and accident data.