Computing Moving and Intermittent Queue Propagation in Highway Work Zones

Drivers may experience intermittent congestion and moving queue conditions in work zones due to several reasons such as presence of lane closure, roadway geometric changes, higher demand, lower speed, and reduced capacity. The congestion and queue have spatial and temporal effects and knowing their extent is needed to find users’ cost, and to select traffic management strategies to reduce congestion in work zones. The first objective of this study was to develop a computer program, called IntQ, to estimate delay and queue length for intermittent queues in work zones. The IntQ models intermittent arrival pattern for groups of vehicles and generates the group characteristics, such as inter-group gap and group size, from statistical distributions developed from field data for work zones. Then the groups are moved along the network under certain rules. Also the effects of traffic volume on the distributions are discussed. The second objective was to develop a computer program called MovQ to study moving queues in work zones. Inputs to MovQ are geometric, construction and demand data, and output is queue length, delay, and state of traffic. The MovQ establishes speed-flow curves for each section of a work zone and uses shockwave theory to keep track of interactions between traffic waves. The report includes discussions about computational issues, input/output data, and example problems that are solved using the programs.

• Record URL:
  http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/nextrans/assets/pdfs/Final%20Report%20071IY03%20Computing%20Moving%20and%20Intermittent%20Queue%20Propagation%20in%20Highway%20Work%20Zones.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  205 North Mathews Avenue
  Urbana, IL  United States  61801-2352

  NEXTRANS

  Purdue University
  3000 Kent Avenue
  Lafayette, IN  United States  47906-1075

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Ramezani, Hani
  • Benekohal, Rahim (Ray) F
• Publication Date: 2012-7-29

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 88p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Computer programs; Simulation; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow rate; Traffic queuing; Work zone traffic control; Work zones
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01481637
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 071IY03
• Contract Numbers: DTRT07-G-005
• Files: UTC, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: May 20 2013 3:30PM