A Benefit and Cost Analysis of the Freeway Service Patrol Program in Florida
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
6-2007
Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine and evaluate the benefits of the Road Ranger Service Patrol, which is a Freeway Service Patrol program in Florida, against the program’s operating costs in five districts of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Florida Turnpike Enterprise. The five FDOT districts were chosen due to the availability of Road Ranger program and activities logs for analysis. The Road Ranger program provides direct benefits to the general public in terms of reduced delay, fuel consumption, air pollution as well as improved safety and security. The expected benefits would be more significant during peak periods when demand reaches or exceeds capacity than in off-peak and mid-day periods when capacity may not be an issue. The costs considered in this analysis include costs of administration, operation, maintenance, employee salaries, and overhead costs. Incident data obtained from the daily logs maintained by the Road Ranger service provider included data on the time, duration, location, and type of service provided. Other data collected for this study included the average daily traffic volumes, the geometric characteristics of freeways, and the unit cost of road ranger services. The Freeway Service Patrol Evaluation (FSPE) model developed by the University of California-Berkeley was calibrated and used to estimate benefit-cost ratios for Road Ranger program. The estimated benefit/cost ratios based on delay and fuel savings indicated the program produces significant benefits in all five FDOT districts and on the turnpike. The range of benefit and cost ratios for the Road Range program varied by district and ranged from 2:1 to 42:1.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Compendium of Technical Papers, 11th World Conference for Transportation Research, Berkeley, California, June 24-28, 2007.
Scholar Commons Citation
Zhou, Huaguo and Lin, Pei-Sung, "A Benefit and Cost Analysis of the Freeway Service Patrol Program in Florida" (2007). CUTR Faculty Journal Publications. 61.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/cutr_facpub/61
