The NCDOT’s IMAP program provides a critically important service to North Carolina’s traveling public. The highly trained and well-equipped IMAP operators protect motorist safety while minimizing congestion and improving system reliability. While the costs of deploying IMAP routes are not trivial, the benefits are tangible and significant for locations where the patrols are truly needed. Therefore, it is essential that the NCDOT have appropriate and effective tools and methodologies for evaluating the costs and benefits of existing and potential IMAP deployments and for prioritizing route expansion alternatives.
The NCDOT has operated a highly successful and expanding IMAP program over the last two decades. Demand for continued system expansion is coming up against trends in budget tightening and workforce downsizing. The trends are nationwide and have fueled a parallel trend toward private operation of freeway service patrols. These trends in service patrol deployment and service delivery have been accompanied by a sustained national and international research thrusts providing important implementable findings in transportation system modeling and experimental knowledge in the safety and efficiency improvements that can be achieved through the provision of freeway service patrols.
Therefore, in pursuing this research project, NCDOT desired a synthesis of lessons learned and best practices as well as development of a methodology to incorporate this knowledge, along with applicable recent research findings, into a process that will enable criteria-based selection and prioritization of future IMAP system expansion. The project outcomes have addressed these needs.
