A MICROSCOPIC SIMULATION MODEL FOR MERGING CONTROL ON A DEDICATED-LANE AUTOMATED HIGHWAY SYSTEM

Automated highway systems (AHS) are not designated as stand-alone transportation facilities. Drivers will, by necessity, drive from their origins to the AHS entrance, and from the AHS exit to their final destinations. Therefore, the AHS will affect other transportation facilities, and should be integrated with all other facilities in the transportation system. Interfaces create much of the congestion for today's transportation systems and AHS interfaces may cause similar problems. If these problems exist, either the AHS or the conventional road network cannot function properly. The system as a whole may break down and the AHS could potentially become a detriment to the overall transportation system. Not enough is known about the automated merging process to determine what conditions would lead to congestion at interface points. Current macroscopic analysis techniques assume parameters that are not applicable to an AHS, and no detailed AHS merging models have been developed and validated. This paper addresses the interface problem between an AHS and a conventional roadway. It presents a microscopic simulation model for one scenario of the automated merging maneuver. Results of the model show that for low flows and conventional highway speeds, a 1-lane AHS merging section with a dedicated automated entrance ramp has similar characteristics to a 2-lane conventional freeway with or without fixed-time ramp metering. However, when the conventional freeway starts to break down near its capacity, the AHS continues to perform with little delay. The model also validates that the minimum ramp length requirements are a function of the merging vehicle's speed, the mainline vehicles' speed, and the acceleration and deceleration rates of the merging vehicle.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/0968090X
• Corporate Authors:

  Elsevier

  The Boulevard, Langford Lane
  Kidlington, Oxford  United Kingdom  OX5 1GB
• Authors:
  • Ran, Bin
  • Leight, S
  • Chang, B
• Publication Date: 1999-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 369-388
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies
  • Volume: 7
  • Issue Number: 6
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0968-090X
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/0968090X

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated highway systems; Freeway management systems; Freeways; Merging control; Merging traffic; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow; Traffic simulation; Types of roads by network
• Uncontrolled Terms: Traffic interface points
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00791337
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 4 2000 12:00AM