USING INPUT-OUTPUT DIAGRAM TO DETERMINE SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL EXTENTS OF A QUEUE UPSTREAM OF A BOTTLENECK

A simple approach is described for modifying an input-output (or queueing) diagram to measure the time and distance spent by vehicles in a queue in a much simpler and self-serving manner than a time-space diagram. The graphic technique requires construction of a curve depicting the cumulative number of vehicles to have reached the back of the queue as a function of time, but, as indicated here, the technique can be easily automated with a spreadsheet. The technique is applied to the simple case of a constant departure rate from a bottleneck and to the slightly more general case of a bottleneck capacity that changes once, which is demonstrated to be applicable to the study of an undersaturated traffic signal. In the course of describing the usefulness of this technique for estimating several measures, including the maximum length of a physical queue and the time when this maximum occurs, the difference between "delay" at a bottleneck and the "time spent in queue", which appears to have been confused in some of the literature, is clarified.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.3141/1572-17
• Summary URL:
  • http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=USING+INPUT-OUTPUT+DIAGRAM+TO+DETERMINE+SPATIAL+AND+TEMPORAL+EXTENTS+OF+A+QUEUE+UPSTREAM+OF+A+BOTTLENECK&author=T.+Lawson&author=D.+Lovell&author=C.+Daganzo&publication_year=1997
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0309061504
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1572, Highway Capacity Issues and Analysis.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Lawson, T W
  • Lovell, D J
  • Daganzo, C F
• Publication Date: 1997

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 140-147
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1572
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arrivals and departures; Bottlenecks; Queuing; Traffic delays
• Old TRIS Terms: Input-output diagrams; Spatial extent; Temporal extent
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00740627
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309061504
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Sep 5 1997 12:00AM