Using automatic vehicle identification data for investigation of rain effects on vehicular travel speeds and travel choice behaviour

Abstract

In this paper, one-year automatic vehicle identification (AVI) data in Hong Kong are used to investigate the rain effects on individual vehicular travel speeds and travel choice behaviour of crossing harbour. The historical AVI data at selected paths and the three harbour-crossing tunnels in year 2006 are extracted with reference to the corresponding rainfall intensities. The rain effects on vehicular travel speeds and travel behaviour in terms of time of crossing harbour are then examined based on these datasets. It was found that vehicular travel speeds at the selected paths are significantly reduced under rainy conditions. The results also show that the proportion of travellers crossing the harbour lately is more than that of early crossing under rainy conditions. The time delays of crossing harbour are generally increased when the rainfall intensities increase. Copyright 2008 ASCE.