A PROBABILISTIC APPROACH TO TRAFFIC PROBLEMS

A SEVENTEEN-MONTH STUDY WAS CONDUCTED ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEORIES OF A PROBABILISTIC AND STATISTICAL NATURE THAT HAVE DIRECT APPLICATIONS FOR THE SOLUTION OF NETWORK FLOW, QUEUEING AND CONGESTION, SAFETY AND COST PROBLEMS. INVESTIGATIONS WERE MADE IN THE EXISTING LITERATURE ON TRAFFIC FLOW, APPLICATIONS OF VARIOUS STATISTICAL THEORIES AND IN THE THEORY OF QUEUES FOR VEHICLES AT TRAFFIC SIGNALS, AT STOP-SIGNAL INTERSECTIONS AND APPROACHING FREEWAYS FROM ON-RAMPS. FIVE TECHNICAL PAPERS WERE PREPARED AND INCLUDED IN THE FINAL REPORT. THESE PAPERS REFLECT RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHED IN THE THREE PROBLEM AREAS: TUNNEL PROBLEM, MERGING PROBLEM, AND THE NON-POISSON MODELS PROBLEM. THREE OF THE TECHNICAL PAPERS WERE WRITTEN IN THE TUNNEL PROBLEM AREA. THESE PAPERS ADVANCED RESPECTIVELY A SIMULATION MODEL, AN EXTREME VALUE DISTRIBUTION MODEL AND A QUEUEING MODEL. FOR THE MERGING PROBLEM, RENEWAL THEORY WAS APPLIED IN THE FORMULATIONS FOR MERGING PROBABILITIES AND EXISTENCE OF GAPS. IN THE NON-POISSON MODELS PROBLEM, A TECHNICAL REPORT WAS PREPARED THAT CONSIDERS THE MAJOR ASSUMPTIONS AND BASIC DEFINITIONS. IT THEN CONSIDERS THE DIFFERENTIAL-DIFFERENCE EQUATIONS APPROACH AND COMPARES THIS TO THE TRANSITION EQUATIONS APPROACH. RELATED TOPICS ARE FURTHER CONSIDERED. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Fh-11-6680, 3215-091
• Corporate Authors:

  Florida State University, Tallahassee

  600 W College Avenue
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32306

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Thompson, W A
  • Serfling, R J
  • Shimi, I N
  • Meeter, D A
  • Hodgson, V
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Interchange ramps; Intersections; Mathematical models; Merging traffic; Probability theory; Queuing theory; Reviews; Statistical analysis; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow; Traffic safety; Traffic signals; Traffic simulation; Tunnels
• Old TRIS Terms: Freeway entrances and exits; Queueing theory
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227006
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 13 2004 6:46PM