Title

What Happens When the Freeway is Closed for Repairs? Early Results from Fix I5 Project

Abstract

:A section of I-5 from Richards Blvd. to the U.S. Highway 50/Capitol City Freeway Interchange in downtown Sacramento, also known as the “boat section”, was shut off from May 30 to July 28 last summer to replace pavement and improve drainage. The boat section is on a major commuting route in the area and carries about 190,000 vehicles on a typical weekday. It is also a major truck route in the central valley. The public were advised to take transit, telecommute, carpool, use alternative routes and alternative work schedules, and reduce the number of trips to the affected area to relive traffic congestion and reduce air pollution during the I-5 closures.

In this talk, I’ll present some initial findings of our fix-i5 study funded by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), through which various kinds of traffic, transit and travel behavior data were collected before, during and after the I-5 closures. I’ll show where and how we collected the data, and what the data reveal about changes in vehicular traffic flow patterns and transit ridership in the region.