User Cost Analysis of UDOT’s Traffic Incident Management Program

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently evaluated performance measures of its Incident Management Team (IMT) program. This study analyzed excess user costs (EUC) generated by incidents, including travel time and traffic volume affected. After data reduction and quality checks, 63 crash cases where IMT units responded were identified to have all data necessary for the analysis. The Mixed Procedure of SAS was employed for the EUC analysis. Results of the statistical analyses showed that, on average, for each minute delay of IMT response time (RT), $925 is added to the EUC with a range from $274 to $1,576 in 2018 dollars, and on average 93 more vehicles are affected with a range of 10–177 vehicles. These analysis results help UDOT to make decisions on how the program needs to be operated and managed to minimize EUC as they plan for future expansion of the program.