Overview - Page 1 of 2

ID# C4OV001

Overview

This case study focuses on a three-mile section of New York State Route 7 (NY-7) just north of Albany, NY (see Exhibit 4-1). Called Alternate Route 7 by the locals (because it replaced a more southerly parallel suburban arterial), it has become a very busy highway. NYSDOT (New York State Department of Transportation) thinks this freeway and its adjacent interchanges need to be studied because of traffic congestion issues.

Assume that you’ve recently been hired by NYSDOT to determine what kinds of improvements should be made to mitigate operational and safety deficiencies in this sub-area network. Key issues that the Department would like you to explore include:

	capacity of the mainline sections of NYS-7, both eastbound and westbound
	adequacy of the weaving sections throughout the network
	performance of the ramps at all of the interchanges
	queuing and the potential hazards caused by long queues spilling back onto the freeway, if and where that arises
	speed changes, especially significant ones that might arise at the merge and diverge areas of the ramps, and the impacts of these speed changes on safety

The main caveat is that there is limited funding for improvements. So NYSDOT isn’t expecting costly solutions. However, the Department is expecting you to compare and contrast your “low-cost” solutions with ones that are more costly, where the greater expenditure would produce more benefits.

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