Behavior of the cell transmission model and effectiveness of ramp metering

The paper characterizes the behavior of the cell transmission model of a freeway, divided into N sections or cells, each with one on-ramp and one off-ramp. The state of the dynamical system is the N-dimensional vector n of vehicle densities in the N sections. A feasible stationary demand pattern induces a unique equilibrium flow in each section. However, there is an infinite set—in fact a continuum—of equilibrium states, including a unique uncongested equilibrium n^u in which free flow speed prevails in all sections, and a unique most congested equilibrium n^con. In every other equilibrium n^e one or more sections are congested, and n^u  n^e  n^con. Every equilibrium is stable and every trajectory converges to some equilibrium state.Two implications for ramp metering are explored. First, if the demand exceeds capacity and the ramps are not metered, every trajectory converges to the most congested equilibrium. Moreover, there is a ramp metering strategy that increases discharge flows and reduces total travel time compared with the no-metering strategy. Second, even when the demand is feasible but the freeway is initially congested, there is a ramp metering strategy that moves the system to the uncongested equilibrium and reduces total travel time. The two conclusions show that congestion invariably indicates wastefulness of freeway resources that ramp metering can eliminate.     

A theory and implications on dynamic marginal cost

This paper extends the conventional static marginal cost analysis to the dynamic one based on the time-dependent queueing analysis at a bottleneck. First, the supply function is reformulated so as to incorporate dynamically congestion phenomena. And, the marginal cost is shown to be more closely related to the duration of congestion rather than the personal cost, since a slight change of demand at one time affects an entire traffic condition thereafter. Next, the analysis is extended so as to include the departure time choice using previous departure time choice theory. Several implications such as road pricing schemes and ramp control strategies are also discussed.     

Tradable network permits: A new scheme for the most efficient use of network capacity

Akamatsu et al. (2006) proposed a new transportation demand management scheme called “tradable bottleneck permits” (TBP), and proved its efficiency properties for a single bottleneck model. This paper explores the properties of a TBP system for general networks. An equilibrium model is first constructed to describe the states under the TBP system with a single OD pair. It is proved that equilibrium resource allocation is efficient in the sense that the total transportation cost in a network is minimized. It is also shown that the “self-financing principle” holds for the TBP system. Furthermore, theoretical relationships between TBP and congestion pricing (CP) are discussed. It is demonstrated that TBP has definite advantages over CP when demand information is not perfect, whereas both TBP and CP are equivalent for the perfect information case. Finally, it is shown that the efficiency result also holds for more general demand conditions.     

Feedback control speed harmonization algorithm: Methodology and preliminary testing

The capacity drop phenomenon, which reduces the maximum bottleneck discharge rate following the onset of congestion, is a critical restriction in transportation networks that produces additional traffic congestion. Consequently, preventing or reducing the occurrence of the capacity drop not only mitigates traffic congestion, but can also produce environmental and traffic safety benefits. In addressing this problem, the paper develops a novel bang-bang feedback control speed harmonization (SH) or Variable Speed Limit (VSL) algorithm, that attempts to prevent or delay the breakdown of a bottleneck and thus reduce traffic congestion. The novelty of the system lies in the fact that it is both proactive and reactive in responding to the dynamic stochastic nature of traffic. The system is proactive because it uses a calibrated fundamental diagram to initially identify the optimum throughput to maintain within the SH zone. Furthermore, the system is reactive (dynamic) because it monitors the traffic stream directly upstream of the bottleneck to adjustment the metering rate to capture the dynamic and stochastic nature of traffic. The steady-state traffic states in the vicinity of a lane-drop bottleneck before and after applying the SH algorithm is analyzed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm in alleviating the capacity drop. We demonstrate theoretically that the SH algorithm is effective in enhancing the bottleneck discharge rate. A microscopic simulation of the network using the INTEGRATION software further demonstrates the benefits of the algorithm in increasing the bottleneck discharge rate, decreasing vehicle delay, and reducing vehicle fuel consumption and CO₂ emission levels. Specifically, compared with the base case without the SH algorithm, the advisory speed limit increases the bottleneck discharge rate by approximately 7%, reduces the overall system delay by approximately 20%, and reduces the system-wide fuel consumption and CO₂ emission levels by 5%.     

Speed-flow relations and cost functions for congested traffic: Theory and empirical analysis

A dynamic ‘car-following’ extension of the conventional economic model of traffic congestion is presented, which predicts the average cost function for trips in stationary states to be significantly different from the conventional average cost function derived from the speed-flow function. When applied to a homogeneous road, the model reproduces the same stationary state equilibria as the conventional model, including the hypercongested ones. However, stability analysis shows that the latter are dynamically unstable. The average cost function for stationary state traffic coincides with the conventional function for non-hypercongested traffic, but rises vertically at the road’s capacity due to queuing, instead of bending backwards. When extending the model to include an upstream road segment, it predicts that such queuing will occur under hypercongested conditions, while the general shape of the average cost function for full trips does not change, implying that hypercongestion will not occur on the downstream road segment. These qualitative predictions are verified empirically using traffic data from a Dutch bottleneck. Finally, it is shown that reduced-form average cost functions, that relate the sum of average travel cost and average schedule delay costs to the number of users in a dynamic equilibrium, certainly need not have the intuitive convex shape, but may very well be concave – despite the fact that the underlying speed-flow function may be convex.     

Congestion and safety: A spatial analysis of London

A disaggregate spatial analysis, using enumeration district data for London was conducted with the aim of examining how congestion may affect traffic safety. It has been hypothesized that while congested traffic conditions may increase the number of vehicle crashes and interactions, their severity is normally lower than crashes under uncongested free flowing conditions. This is primarily due to the slower speeds of vehicles when congestion is present. Our analysis uses negative binomial count models to examine whether factors affecting casualties (fatalities, serious injuries and slight injuries) differed during congested time periods as opposed to uncongested time periods. We also controlled for congestion spatially using a number of proxy variables and estimated pedestrian casualty models since a large proportion of London casualties are pedestrians. Results are not conclusive. Our results suggest that road infrastructure effects may interact with congestion levels such that in London any spatial differences are largely mitigated. Some small differences are seen between the models for congested versus uncongested time periods, but no conclusive trends can be found. Our results lead us to suspect that congestion as a mitigator of crash severity is less likely to occur in urban conditions, but may still be a factor on higher speed roads and motorways.     

Effects of alternative road pricing systems on network performance

Four road pricing systems, with charges based on cordons crossed, distance travelled, time spent travelling and time spent in congestion, have been tested using the congested assignment network model SATURN and its elastic assignment demand response routine, SATEASY. All tests have been based on a SATURN application of the city of Cambridge, with charges imposed inside an appropriate ring of bypasses. While initial results showed that congestion pricing achieved the greatest increase in average speed in the charged area, later analysis cast doubt on its superiority. Congestion pricing is able to distinguish more effectively the extent to which different types of journey contribute to congestion and achieves given reductions in travel at lower levels of charge. However, it is much less effective in reducing distance travelled and, by encouraging use of minor roads, may achieve far smaller environmental benefits. Time-based pricing performs better than the other systems on most indicators. Generally, the results suggest that when rerouting effects are included in the predictive modelling process the benefits of road pricing may be significantly smaller than previously expected.     

古亭山互通式立交方案设计比选分析

文章基于古亭山互通式立交所处的地形地质概况及其交通量情况,从立交匝道布置及左转匝道主要技术指标方面,对所提出的小环道+半定向混合型设计方案和对称苜蓿叶+半定向混合型设计方案进行了比选,最终选定小环道+半定向混合型方案为可行的立交方案。     

Pareto-improving ramp metering strategies for reducing congestion in the morning commute

This paper presents an alternative approach to internalize congestion externality during the morning commute. We consider a linear freeway with multiple on-ramps and a downstream bottleneck and commuters accessing the freeway via different on-ramps try to arrive at work on time. Rather than charging congestion tolls as widely suggested by economists, we show that the old-fashioned engineering approach – ramp metering – can be a powerful tool to affect travelers’ departure time choice and thereby alter the congestion externality distribution among travelers. With carefully designed time-dependent metering plans, travelers from different origins can be channelized and will access the freeway bottleneck in different time periods, resulting in less total cost for the system compared to the no-metering case. The metering strategies are Pareto-improving, with travelers from the on-ramp with the highest priority having the smallest individual costs and travelers from the on-ramp with the lowest priority having their costs equal to those in the no-metering scenario. By changing the priority order of the ramps periodically, the benefit of the Pareto-improving metering strategies can be distributed evenly among all travelers. Numerical experiments show that the total user cost can be reduced by up to 40% with the proposed metering strategies. This study offers researchers and policy makers a different angle of looking at congestion externality, and the results provide an overview of the potential long term benefits that dynamic ramp metering strategies can achieve.     

Mass transit systems of Beijing: governance evolution and analysis

Developing a more efficient mass transit system, in highly populated cities, improves the mobility, decreases the dependency of private cars, alleviates traffic congestion, and provides a more environmentally friendly means of travel. Recently, the city of Beijing decided to have a target of becoming as a ‘public-transport city’ with a fascinating mass transit system within a larger plan, of building humanistic, scientific and technological, and green public-transport systems. This work discusses the governance evolution of the mass transit system of Beijing between 1949–2008, comprised of two groups of transit systems, the road surface public-transport system (bus, tram, trolley, etc.), and the subway public-transport system. In addition, a time-series analysis is introduced in an attempt to examine the effect of governance evolution on the two transit systems, and of the impacts of the governance structural changes on the mass transit system. The time-series model is introduced using the annual statistics data of the period 1949–2008. The outcome of the analysis is viewed with precaution because of the incompleteness of the many endogenous and exogenous factors to affect the public-transport demand. Generally speaking it is concluded that the governance evolution provides beneficial effect of the Beijing mass transit activity; however, for satisfying the significant increase of the Beijing city’s travel demand and maintaining sustainable development, the governance-involvement pattern needs to be reformed.     

Adaptive cruise control design for active congestion avoidance

We present an adaptive cruise control (ACC) strategy where the acceleration characteristics, that is, the driving style automatically adapts to different traffic situations. The three components of the concept are the ACC itself, implemented in the form of a car-following model, an algorithm for the automatic real-time detection of the traffic situation based on local information, and a strategy matrix to adapt the driving characteristics (that is, the parameters of the ACC controller) to the traffic conditions. Optionally, inter-vehicle and infrastructure-to-car communication can be used to improve the accuracy of determining the traffic states. Within a microscopic simulation framework, we have simulated the complete concept on a road section with an on-ramp bottleneck, using empirical loop-detector data for an afternoon rush-hour as input for the upstream boundary. We found that the ACC vehicles improve the traffic stability and the dynamic road capacity. While traffic congestion in the reference scenario was completely eliminated when simulating a proportion of 25% ACC vehicles, travel times were already significantly reduced for much lower penetration rates. The efficiency of the proposed driving strategy even for low market penetrations is a promising result for a successful application in future driver assistance systems.     

Developing control strategies for freeway merging points under congested traffic situations using modeling and a simulation approach

This work focuses on developing a variety of strategies for alleviating congestion at freeway merging points as well as improving the safety of these points. On the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway, traffic congestion frequently occurs at merging bottleneck sections, especially during heavy traffic demand. The Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway public corporation, generally applies different empirical strategies to increase the flow rate and decrease the accident rate at the merging sections. However, these strategies do not rely either on any behavioral characteristic of the merging traffic or on the geometric design of the merging segments. There have been only a few research publications concerned with traffic behavior and characteristics in these situations. Therefore, a three‐year extensive study has been undertaken to investigate traffic behavior and characteristics during the merging process under congested situations in order to design safer and less congested merging points as well as to apply more efficient control at these bottleneck sections. Two groups of strategies were investigated in this study. The First group was related to the traffic characteristics, and the second group to the geometric characteristics. In the first group, the control strategies related to closure of freeway and ramp lanes as well as lane‐changing maneuver restriction were investigated through a simulation program, detector data, and field experiment. In the second group, the angle of convergence of the ramp with the freeway in relation to merging capacity was analyzed using a simulation program. Results suggested the potential benefits of using proposed strategies developed in this work and can serve as initial guidance for the reduction of delay and improvement of safety under congested traffic conditions.     

Road pricing for congestion control with unknown demand and cost functions

It is widely recognized that precise estimation of road tolls for various pricing schemes requires a few pieces of information such as origin–destination demand functions, link travel time functions and users’ valuations of travel time savings, which are, however, not all readily available in practice. To circumvent this difficulty, we develop a convergent trial-and-error implementation method for a particular pricing scheme for effective congestion control when both the link travel time functions and demand functions are unknown. The congestion control problem of interest is also known as the traffic restraint and road pricing problem, which aims at finding a set of effective link toll patterns to reduce link flows to below a desirable target level. For the generalized traffic equilibrium problem formulated as variational inequalities, we propose an iterative two-stage approach with a self-adaptive step size to update the link toll pattern based on the observed link flows and given flow restraint levels. Link travel time and demand functions and users’ value of time are not needed. The convergence of the iterative toll adjustment algorithm is established theoretically and demonstrated on a set of numerical examples.     

Local ramp metering with distant downstream bottlenecks: A comparative study

The well-known feedback ramp metering algorithm ALINEA can be applied for local ramp metering or included as a key component in a coordinated ramp metering system. ALINEA uses real-time occupancy measurements from the ramp flow merging area that may be at most a few hundred meters downstream of the metered on-ramp nose. In many practical cases, however, bottlenecks with smaller capacities than the merging area may exist further downstream, which suggests using measurements from those downstream bottlenecks. Recent theoretical and simulation studies indicate that ALINEA may lead to poorly damped closed-loop behavior in this case, but PI-ALINEA, a suitable Proportional-Integral (PI) extension of ALINEA, can lead to satisfactory control performance. This paper addresses the same local ramp-metering problem in the presence of far-downstream bottlenecks, with a particular focus on the employment of PI-ALINEA to tackle three distinct cases of bottleneck that may often be encountered in practice: (1) an uphill case; (2) a lane-drop case; and (3) an un-controlled downstream on-ramp case. Extensive simulation studies are conducted on the basis of a macroscopic traffic flow model to show that ALINEA is not capable of carrying out ramp metering in these bottleneck cases, while PI-ALINEA operates satisfactorily in all cases. A field application example of PI-ALINEA is also reported with regard to a real case of far downstream bottlenecks. With its control parameters appropriately tuned beforehand, PI-ALINEA is found to be universally applicable, with little fine-tuning required for field applications.     

Climate change mitigation and co-benefits of feasible transport demand policies in Beijing

Urban car transportation is a cause of climate change but is also associated with additional burdens such as traffic congestion and air pollution. Studies of external costs and potential impacts of travel demand management help to define policy instruments that mitigate the damaging impact of transportation. Here, we analyze different externalities of car transportation in Beijing and show that social costs induced by motorized transportation are equivalent to about 7.5–15.0% of Beijing’s GDP. Congestion and air pollution contribute the most with climate change costs being the most uncertain. We show that a road charge could not only address congestion but also has environmental benefits. The paper investigates the role of demand elasticities and demonstrates that joint demand and supply-side policies provide considerable synergies.     

Effect of advanced traveler information systems and road pricing in a network with non-recurrent congestion

The effect of the application of advanced transport information system (ATIS) and road pricing is studied in a transportation system under non-recurrent congestion. A stochastic network deterministic user equilibrium model (SNDUE) with elastic demand is formulated and used to evaluate the welfare and private impacts of different market penetrations of ATIS, together with road pricing for a simple network. Both marginal first-best road pricing and a second-best fixed road pricing are considered. The incentives of private users to use ATIS are analyzed and the characteristics of optimum tolls as a function of ATIS market penetration are shown. We conclude that ATIS is an efficient and necessary tool to reduce the effects of non-recurrent incidents in a transportation network, especially when non-recurrent congestion causes a significant deterioration of operational conditions of the network. If the impact of non-recurrent incidents on free flow costs is small or is reduced only to congestion effects, the use of road pricing would be more efficient. Social benefits obtained when jointly implementing ATIS and road pricing are practically the same whether first-best or second-best road pricing is used. Considering the private costs perceived by the network users, and the benefits experienced by equipped users, the maximum level of market penetration achieved could be limited because private benefits disappear after certain market penetration is obtained.     

Observing freeway ramp merging phenomena in congested traffic

This work conducts a comprehensive investigation of traffic behavior and characteristics during freeway ramp merging under congested traffic conditions. On the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway, traffic congestion frequently occurs at merging bottleneck sections, especially during heavy traffic demand. The Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway public corporation, generally applies different empirical strategies to increase the flow rate and decrease the accident rate at the merging sections. However, these strategies do not rely either on any behavioral characteristics of the merging traffic or on the geometric design of the merging segments. There have been only a few research publications concerned with traffic behavior and characteristics in these situations. Therefore, a three‐year study is undertaken to investigate traffic behavior and characteristics during the merging process under congested situations. Extensive traffic data capturing a wide range of traffic and geometric information were collected using detectors, videotaping, and surveys at eight interchanges in Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway. Maximum discharged flow rate from the head of the queue at merging sections in conjunction with traffic and geometric characteristics were analyzed. In addition, lane changing maneuver with respect to the freeway and ramp traffic behaviors were examined. It is believed that this study provides a thorough understanding of the freeway ramp merging dynamics. In addition, it forms a comprehensive database for the development and implementation of congestion management techniques at merging sections utilizing Intelligent Transportation System.     

Creating complex congestion patterns via multi-objective optimal freeway traffic control with application to cyber-security

This article presents a study on freeway networks instrumented with coordinated ramp metering and the ability of such control systems to produce arbitrarily complex congestion patterns within the dynamical limits of the traffic system. The developed method is used to evaluate the potential for an adversary with access to control infrastructure to enact high-level attacks on the underlying freeway system. The attacks are executed using a predictive, coordinated ramp metering controller based on finite-horizon optimal control and multi-objective optimization techniques. The efficacy of the control schemes in carrying out the prescribed attacks is determined via simulations of traffic network models based on the cell transmission model with onramps modeled as queue buffers. Freeway attacks with high-level objectives are presented on two illustrative examples: congestion-on-demand, which aims to create precise, user-specified pockets of congestion, and catch-me-if-you-can, which attempts to aid a fleeing vehicle from pursuant vehicles.     

A monopolistic market for advanced traveller information systems and road use efficiency

Advanced traveller information systems (ATIS) are likely to exhibit significant economies of scale in production and operation. Private provision would therefore typically occur under considerable market power. An important policy question is whether the resulting distortions would aggravate or reduce distortions in the transport market itself, notably external effects such as congestion. We consider such questions by presenting an integrated model that captures the interactions between a congested transport market and a monopolistic market for advanced traveller information systems (ATIS). Three market failures operate simultaneously: congestion on the road, a declining average benefit of information when information penetration rises, and monopolistic pricing by the provider of information. Some key results are as follows. Monopoly information pricing appears not to be the most attractive option from a system efficiency viewpoint. A subsidy in the information market can help realise a second-best optimum of road use. Relatively low uncertainty on the road and high information costs limit the monopolist’s profit on the information market, as well as relative system efficiency. While relatively inelastic demand for mobility, counter intuitively, negatively affects the monopolist’s profit, the relative social benefits from private information peak at intermediate demand elasticities.     

临时关闭道路以疏导城市道路交通流的可行性分析

文章基于Braess悖论,以单位车辆的平均出行时间为最优目标,以网络道路系统为约束条件,从逆向思维角度建立了通过临时关闭道路引导交通流以缓解城市道路交通拥挤的Narsh均衡非线性规划模型,并以北京二环道路网络为研究对象进行了实例分析。结果表明,在城市道路网中,关闭部分路段并不能明显缓解交通拥堵现状,但可以在不影响路网整体通行时间的条件下改善路网局部拥堵状况。建议城市道路交通临时疏导方案应该根据路网交通流的分布特点和道路通过能力等因素进行制订。