Ramp meters on trial: Evidence from the Twin Cities metering holiday

Ramp meters in the Twin Cities have been the subject of a recent test of their effectiveness, involving turning them off for eight weeks. This paper analyzes the results with and without ramp metering for several representative freeways during the afternoon peak period. Seven performance measures: mobility, equity, productivity, consumers’ surplus, accessibility, travel time variation and travel demand responses are compared. It is found that ramp meters are particularly helpful for long trips relative to short trips. Ramp metering, while generally beneficial to freeway segments, may not improve trip travel times (including ramp delays). The reduction in travel time variation comprises another benefit from ramp meters. Non-work trips and work trips respond differently to ramp meters. The results are mixed, suggesting a more refined ramp control algorithm, which explicitly considers ramp delay, is in order.     

龙坑枢纽立交方案设计

随着高速公路逐年增长,使得高速公路与高速公路相交的枢纽立交也越来越多.对龙坑枢纽立交方案比选设计进行了详细介绍.     

An exploratory investigation of the impact of ramp metering on driver acceleration behavior

Ramp metering has been proven as an effective freeway management strategy; however, the impact of ramp metering on drivers' acceleration behavior has not been fully investigated. A better understanding of acceleration behavior changes with ramp metering is critical to the adequate design of ramp metering facilities. In this study, drivers' speed and acceleration data were collected at two representative metered ramps in Los Angeles, California. The speed and acceleration profiles under meter-on and meter-off scenarios were compared. Statistical results demonstrated that ramp metering affects drivers' acceleration behavior at ramp acceleration lane. It was found that at the metered ramp with short existing acceleration length, the average acceleration rate from ramp meter stop bar to 500 ft downstream under meter-on scenario (4.72 ft./s²) is approximately 40% higher than when meter-off (3.18 ft./s²). The design of acceleration lane length for metered on-ramps should therefore take into account the potential impacts of ramp metering on driver acceleration behavior.     

互通式立交匝道线形组合的检验

通过速度图检验互通式立交匝道线形组合是否恰当,对匝道线形组合进行优化调整,使立交线形设计更加合理,符合汽车在立交区短时间内加速和减速的变化,保证行车安全。     

Optimisation of dynamic motorway traffic via a parsimonious and decentralised approach

This paper presents an optimisation framework for motorway management via ramp metering and variable speed limit. We start with presenting a centralised global optimal control problem aiming to minimise the total travel delay in a motorway system. Given the centralised global optimal control solutions, we propose a set of decentralised ramp metering and speed control strategies which operate on a novel parsimonious dynamic platform without needing an underlying traffic model. The control strategies are applied to a case on UK M25 motorway. The results show that the proposed set of decentralised control is able to deliver a performance that is close to the global optimal ones with significantly less computational and implementation effort. This study provides new insights to motorway management.     

互通立交匝道设计探讨

现代互通立交的设计应结合安全、环境、功能、用地和成本等多因素综合考虑,运用更为灵活的设计手法,从程式化或模板化设计中解脱出来,树立创作设计的思想.文章运用现代互通立交设计理论,对互通立交匝道设计中的一些基本问题进行了探讨.     

A multi-class model-based control scheme for reducing congestion and emissions in freeway networks by combining ramp metering and route guidance

The paper proposes a multi-class control scheme for freeway traffic networks. This control scheme combines two control strategies, i.e. ramp metering and route guidance, in order to reduce the total time spent and the total emissions in a balanced way. In particular, the ramp metering and route guidance controllers are feedback predictive controllers, i.e. they compute the control actions not only on the basis of the measured system state, but also on the basis of the prediction of the system evolution, in terms of traffic conditions and traffic emissions. Another important feature of the controllers is that they have a multi-class nature: different classes of vehicles are considered and specific control actions are computed for each class. Since the controllers are based on a set of parameters that need to be tuned, the overall control framework also includes a module to properly determine the gains of the controllers. The simulation analysis reported in the paper shows the effectiveness of the proposed control framework and, in particular, the possibility of implementing control policies that are specific for each vehicle type.     

Definition of a merging assistant strategy using intelligent vehicles

In the area of active traffic management, new technologies provide opportunities to improve the use of current infrastructure. Vehicles equipped with in-car communication systems are capable of exchanging messages with the infrastructure and other vehicles. This new capability offers many opportunities for traffic management. This paper presents a novel merging assistant strategy that exploits the communication capabilities of intelligent vehicles. The proposed control requires the cooperation of equipped vehicles on the main carriageway in order to create merging gaps for on-ramp vehicles released by a traffic light. The aim is to reduce disruptions to the traffic flow created by the merging vehicles. This paper focuses on the analytical formulation of the control algorithm, and the traffic flow theories used to define the strategy. The dynamics of the gap formation derived from theoretical considerations are validated using a microscopic simulation. The validation indicates that the control strategy mostly developed from macroscopic theory well approximates microscopic traffic behaviour. The results present encouraging capabilities of the system. The size and frequency of the gaps created on the main carriageway, and the space and time required for their creation are compatible with a real deployment of the system. Finally, we summarise the results of a previous study showing that the proposed merging strategy reduces the occurrence of congestion and the number of late-merging vehicles. This innovative control strategy shows the potential of using intelligent vehicles for facilitating the merging manoeuvre through use of emerging communications technologies.     

邯长高速公路紧急避险车道研究

在山区高速公路连续长、陡下坡路段设置避险车道非常必要,应将避险车道作为高速公路的一部分。通过对邯长高速公路紧急避险车道的研究．找出了存在的问题,提出更加合理的避险车道方案以供同行参考。