01558213

Component

One of the most heavily travelled freeways in the U.S. closed twice, in 2011 and again in 2012, to accommodate reconstruction of an overpass in Los Angeles. Public officials widely publicized the closures using a variety of messaging approaches in an effort to influence travel behavior. Some messages calmly appealed to civic pride and encouraged responsible voluntary cooperation, while others threatened nightmarish delays propagating into region-wide gridlock, dubbed “Carmageddon” and “Carmageddon II.” Intense media coverage of the first closure emphasized the potential for a traffic disaster, but was far less extensive and histrionic for the second closure. During the first closure, contrary to many media predictions, traffic flowed freely at volumes far below normal weekend levels, even as far as 100 kilometers from the closure. During the first closure, travelers did not switch routes or modes or shift trips in time, but rather forewent hundreds of thousands of trips. Changed travel behavior results were more mixed, and mostly modest, for the second closure. Trips were down too, but far less than during the first event, and there was evidence of more detouring as well. The authors' review of the literature finds that these responses – given the short closure durations, the large proportion of discretionary travel on weekends, and the sensational media coverage around the first event – were to be expected based on past experience. They speculate that traveler responses to messages of fear were more dramatic but short-lived, while those appealing to civic pride were more modest but durable.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB10 Regional Transportation Systems Management and Operations.

01550057

15-4961

English

0000-0002-6739-1654

18p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References

Mass media; Messages (Communications); Street closure; Traffic congestion; Travel behavior; Travelers

Los Angeles (California)

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-4961

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:39PM