Route Efficiency Index as an operational tool for detour decision making in an urban motorway

Decisions on efficient detours are crucial for motorway operations following closures. This paper presents a framework for supporting decision making on detour routing in urban motorways. A Route Efficiency Index (REI) is developed for that purpose; the index is based on three major criteria: safety, user cost and environmental impacts in the vicinity of a detour. The Athens (Greece) ring-road is used as an application setting for the proposed methodology. Results show that safety is more important for decision making compared to other criteria, as it is affected by physical characteristics of the detour rather than diverted traffic volumes. Based on the paper findings, a tool for straightforwardly deriving and assessing detour action plans for urban motorways, is developed.