As Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) emerge, we should expect changes to more than just the way we get to work and take care of our errands. CAVs are widely accepted to have substantial impacts on the transportation system, including the planning, design, operations, construction, and maintenance of the infrastructure, as well as on the flow of entities involved (including drivers, vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians). In particular, since CAVs will have profound impacts on freeways, arterials, and local streets, they will significantly affect those arteries’ capacities and the transportation system’s performance. CAVs are also expected to have significant impacts on the economic outlook of cities and will affect revenues associated with motor vehicles, such as motor fuel taxes, sales and use taxes, moving violations, toll receipts, and parking fees, among other transportation revenue sources.

This project evaluates the ways CAVs will influence the current transportation system’s performance, along with the provision of an in-depth analysis of the required intersection capacity adjustments while explicitly accounting for mixed vehicle fleets with different expected levels of CAV adoption under different traffic situations. This project focuses on the development and provides recommendations on estimating and predicting the capacity of intersections and the associated revenue in the presence of CAVs, in order to lead to a better understanding of how CAVs will impact mobility and safety of the urban transportation systems. Also, this project assesses the fiscal revenue impacts of the transition to CAVs on North Carolina’s cities, towns, and households, and how this will affect revenues at NCDOT. It also identifies policy options to mitigate budget impacts and allow North Carolina to reap the maximum benefits from the transition.

Thrust 1 researchers investigate the impacts of CAV technologies on the current transportation system’s performance, in particular on intersection capacity adjustments considering different levels of CAV adoption under different traffic situations. This project also assess the fiscal revenue impacts of the transition to CAVs on North Carolina’s cities, towns, and households. It also identifies the policy options to mitigate budget impacts and enable the state to reap the full benefits of the transition to advanced transportation systems. This Thrust particularly focuses on the impacts of CAVs on the urban transportation system and will inform our evaluation of how CAV market penetration will affect intersection capacities.

The anticipated research products include:

1. A review of CAV technologies and intersection capacity analysis considering mixed vehicle fleets with different expected levels of CAV market penetration.

2. Identification of potential intersection scenarios and collection of the characteristics of each transportation revenue impact scenario, including an assessment and feasibility of new, innovative, and sustainable transportation funding methods.

3. Guidelines on intersection capacity adjustments at different expected CAV market penetration levels.

4. An evaluation of the fiscal impacts of CAV adoption, including policy options to enable North Carolina to reap maximum benefits of CAV adoption.