A Planning Tool for Active Traffic Management Combining Microsimulation and Dynamic Traffic Assignment (FHWA 0-6859-1)

Active traffic management (ATM) strategies have been considered as a tool for congestion mitigation in the last few decades. They rely on real-time traffic observations to regulate the flow of traffic. This research focuses on developing tools for evaluating the effectiveness of ATM strategies for freeway corridors. The research efforts can be categorized into two parts. The first part performs a detailed microsimulation analysis for four ATM strategies commenting on their effectiveness under cases of recurring and non-recurring congestion and develops a hybrid microsimulation-DTA (dynamic traffic assignment) model to capture the combined microscopic and network-level impacts of an ATM strategy. The second part develops spreadsheet tools which are useful to predict effectiveness of an ATM strategy under different levels of data availability. Ramp metering, variable speed limits, and hard shoulder running are found effective on the Williamson County test network, whereas dynamic ramp control and freeway arterial coordinated operations do not lead to any significant improvement. The authors also find that ATM strategies can improve the performance over a corridor while simultaneously reducing the performance of frontage roads due to spillover effects. The authors' findings also indicate that a hybrid microsimulation-DTA model is useful for an accurate analysis. However, based on the network characteristics, changes in route choice patterns may/may not be significant. The regression models used in the spreadsheet tool in the second part provide a good fit to the simulation results and thus can be used as an initial tool for testing effectiveness of ATM strategies during planning stage.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6859-1.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/catalogid=36420
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/catalogid=36422
• Summary URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/66061
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/66062
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Project Title: Operational Analysis of Active Traffic Management Strategies.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Texas, Austin

  Center for Transportation Research, 1616 Guadalupe Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-1255

  Texas Department of Transportation

  Research and Technology Implementation Office, P.O. Box 5080
  Austin, TX  United States  78763-5080

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Boyles, Stephen D
  • Walton, C Michael
  • Duthie, Jennifer
  • Jafari, Ehsan
  • Jiang, Nan
  • Khani, Alireza
  • Li, Jia
  • Osorio, Jesus
  • Pandey, Venktesh
  • Rambha, Tarun
  • Yahia, Cesar
• Publication Date: 2018-9

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Technical Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 147p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Congestion management systems; Dynamic traffic assignment; Freeways; Microsimulation; Spreadsheets
• Uncontrolled Terms: Active traffic management
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01684882
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-17/0-6859-1, Report No. 0-6859-1
• Contract Numbers: 0-6859
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 31 2018 4:27PM