Assessing The Relationship Between Transportation Diversity And Road Network Congestion Using Participatory-Sensing Data

Congestion impacts urban mobility, fuel consumption, and air pollution, so it is a critical societal issue. In this study, we have explored the relationship of transportation diversity-the availability of transportation modes (richness) and their distribution in a community (evenness)-on the traffic jam characteristics represented by congestion duration. In doing so, we have analyzed heterogonous data sources through a case study of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The participatory-sensing-based data, collected through Waze, a community-based navigation application, are utilized to examine the spatiotemporal patterns of congestion duration over a period of three months. Transportation diversity is measured at the scale of the zip code tabulation areas. Comparison of zip code tabulation areas regarding their transportation diversity demonstrates that areas with higher congestion duration time generally have limited diversity in their transportation system. The spatiotemporal distribution of these metrics could be used for performance-based planning and prioritizing resource allocation to the most critical areas.