Exploring the effect of new urban expressway on travel time

Abstract

Urban expressways are one of the largest infrastructure investment projects in cities. Nevertheless, the impact of expressway construction on alleviating travel time has long been controversial. The conventional approach calculates travel time utilizing origin-destination (OD) flow from taxi trajectory data. However, OD flow typically overlooks data scarcity and individual choices, resulting in biased travel time estimates. This study proposes a novel method for travel time estimation based on path flow that considers the real space-time paths and driving directions. Subsequently, we employ the difference-in-differences approach to assess the effect of expressway construction on travel time. Experiments performed in Wuhan, China, indicate that expressway construction has a substantial impact on reducing travel time, exhibiting considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in this effect. Moreover, the built environment notably influences travel time. These findings offer valuable insights for urban planners and transportation policymakers to aid in the development of pertinent policies.