FINAL REPORT, FUNDAMENTAL STATISTICAL RESEARCH IN TRAFFIC FLOW

A NINETEEN MONTH STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN RESEARCH AREAS LEADING TO SUBSTANTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN EXISTING TRAFFIC METHODOLOGY. SIX TECHNICAL PAPERS WERE PREPARED AND INCLUDED IN THE FINAL REPORT. THESE PAPERS REFLECT RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHED IN THREE PROBLEM AREAS, 'MODELS OF TRAFFIC FLOW AND ESTIMATION OF TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS,' 'MODELS OF HIGHWAY CONGESTION,' AND 'NON-PARAMETRIC RANKING PROCEDURES IN TRAFFIC METHODOLOGY.' IN ADDITION, THIS REPORT DESCRIBES CONTINUING WORK IN TWO ADDITIONAL PROBLEM AREAS, 'CAR FOLLOWING MODELS AND PLATOON THEORY,' AND 'CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS AND URBAN NETWORKS.' FOUR OF THE TECHNICAL PAPERS INVOLVE THE AREA 'MODELS OF TRAFFIC FLOW AND ESTIMATION OF TRAFFIC FLOW PARAMETERS.' TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 1 STARTS WITH A SIMPLE MODEL OF THE HOMOGENEOUS POISSON PROCESS IN HIGHWAY TRAFFIC FLOW. EXTENSIONS OF RENYI'S MODEL ARE THEN MADE TO CASES INVOLVING MULTIPLE ENTRANCES. CARS TRAVELING RANDOM DISTANCES AND BATCH ARRIVALS ARE INDICATED TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 3. TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 2 CONSIDERS THE PROBLEM OF ESTIMATING THE PROBABILITY DENSITY FUNCTION (P.D.F.) OF VEHICLE VELOCITIES WHILE TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 4 EXTENDS RENYI'S MODEL TO THE ESTIMATION OF PARAMETERS IN TRAFFIC FLOW INVOLVING MULTIPLE EXISTS AND ENTRANCES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THE P.D.F. OF VEHICLE VELOCITIES. IN THE PROBLEM AREA 'MODELS OF HIGHWAY CONGESTION, 'TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 5 DEVELOPS SIMPLE MODELS, DETERMINISTIC AND STOCHASTIC, FOR CONGESTION ALONG A SINGLE LANE ROAD, INVOLVING OPERATIONAL OCCUPANCY AS A PARAMETER. THIS IS EXTENDED TO THE TWO-LANE CASE, E.G., FAST AND SLOW LANES. A METHOD IS OUTLINED FOR FINDING THE STATIONARY PROBABILITIES OF THE NUMBERS OF VEHICLES IN BOTH LANES. IN THE PROBLEM 'NON-PARAMETRIC RANKING PROCEDURES IN TRAFFIC METHODOLOGY, 'TECHNICAL REPORT NO. 6 CONCUDES THAT RECENT STATISTICAL PROCEDURES FOR RANKING AND SELECTION HAVE BEEN IN ERROR AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED OPTIMUM. SUCH PROCEDURES COULD PROVE USEFUL FOR SELECTING ROADS OR HIGHWAY CONFIGURATIONS WHEN EMPLOYING SUITABLE CRITERIA SUCH AS GAP ACCEPTANCE PROBABILITY. IN THE PROBLEM AREA 'CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS AND URBAN NETWORKS,' INDICATED RESEARCH IS DESCRIBED ON THE VEHICLE-ACTUATED TRAFFIC SIGNAL WHILE IN THE REMAINING PROBLEM AREA, 'CAR FOLLOWING MODELS AND PLATOON THEORY,' THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED HAS BEEN MINIMAL. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Adm, Fh-11-6667, 3215-101
• Corporate Authors:

  Stanford University

  Stanford, CA  United States  94305

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  California Division of Highways

  Bridge Department
  Sacramento, CA  United States  05914
• Authors:
  • Solomon, H
  • Brown, M
  • Srivastava, R C
  • Gani, J
  • Rizvi, M H
  • WOODWORTH, G G
• Publication Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Car following; Gap acceptance; Intersections; Mathematical models; Poisson ratio; Single lane traffic; Statistical analysis; Traffic actuated controllers; Traffic congestion; Traffic control; Traffic density; Traffic flow; Traffic platooning; Traffic simulation; Two lane highways
• Old TRIS Terms: Poissons ratio
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00227008
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 13 2004 6:47PM