COMPUTER DISPLAYS FOR THE TRAFFIC ENGINEER

THE APPLICATION IS DESCRIBED OF VISUAL DISPLAY TECHNIQUES GENERATED BY A DIGITAL COMPUTER TO THE PROBLEM OF EVALUATING ALTERNATIVE TRAFFIC-ENGINEERING IMPROVEMENTS IN CONGESTED URBAN NETWORKS. STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE HAS DEVELOPED A TOOL TO BE USED BY THE TRAFFIC ENGINEER IN SUCH EVALUATIONS. IT IS A COMPUTER SIMULATION CALLED THE DYNAMIC HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION MODEL (DHTM). PROBLEMS ARISE WHEN A USER TRIES TO ANALYZE THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL SIMULATION OUTPUT PRODUCED BY DHTM. TO MAKE THE DHTM METHOD PRACTICAL FOR THE TRAFFIC ENGINEER, CATHODE-RAY TUBE DISPLAY EQUIPMENT, IN CONJUNCTION WITH A CDC 3100 COMPUTER LOCATED AT SRI, AND A COMPUTER PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE DESIGNED FOR USE BY A TRAFFIC ENGINEER ARE APPLIED TO THE EVALUATION PROBLEM. MAPS WITH OVERLAYS OF VOLUMES, SPEEDS ALONG STREETS, DELAYS AT INTERSECTIONS AND ROUTES BETWEEN SELECTED ORIGIN-DESTINATION PAIRS CAN BE CALLED FOR FROM THE DISPLAY CONSOLE AND SHOWN INSTANTANEOUSLY. PLOTS OF DEMAND AND DELAY FOR ALL OR SELECTED ELEMENTS OF THE TRAFFIC NETWORKS CAN BE CALLED. A NUMBER OF MEASURES OF THE QUALITY OF TRAFFIC SERVICE CAN BE SPECIFIED AND EVALUATED EASILY WHILE THE TRAFFIC ENGINEER IS SITTING AT THE CONSOLE. TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY OF THE DISPLAY CONCEPTS IS DEMONSTRATED. THE COST OF OPERATING THE CDC 3100 DISPLAY SYSTEM LOCATED AT SRI IS ABOUT $80 PER HOUR. WITH THE TECHNICAL AND ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY IN HAND, FURTHER DEMONSTRATIONS WITH PRACTICING TRAFFIC ENGINEERS USING THE TOOLS OF THE EVALUATION METHODOLOGY SHOULD BE FORTHCOMING. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1969/286/286-004.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Paper sponsored by Committee on Quality of Traffic Service and presented at the 48th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Sandys, Richard C
  • Schlaefli, John L
  • Shunk, Gordon A
  • Taylor, William C
• Publication Date: 1969

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 46-61
• Monograph Title: Traffic control devices
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 286
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cathode ray tubes; Computer programming; Digital computers; Highway transportation; Information display systems; Motorist aid systems; Traffic delays; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Traffic simulation; Traffic speed; Traffic volume; Urban areas
• Old TRIS Terms: Displays; Highway user services
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225572
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Paper No 1
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Dec 22 1994 12:00AM