Spillovers, Merging Traffic and the Morning Commute

Theoretical studies of the morning commute for mono-centric cities have ignored that drivers choose their home departure times knowing that they must compete with other drivers for road space, which becomes scarcer with proximity to the center. This paper examines two important aspects of this competition: queue spillovers caused by insufficient road space, and merging interactions caused by the convergence of trips. For maximum transparency the paper focuses on an idealized two-origin, single-destination network with limited storage space because this system exhibits all the essential features of more complex mono-centric networks and can be studied analytically. The policy insights identified by the analysis are general, however. Unexpected situations where ramp metering is beneficial, and others where the provision of more freeway storage is counterproductive, are identified.

Record URL:
Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01912615
Supplemental Notes:
- Abstract reprinted with permission from Elsevier
Authors:
- Lago, Alejandro
- Daganzo, Carlos F
Publication Date: 2007-7

Language

English

Media Info

Media Type: Print
Features: Figures; References;
Pagination: pp 670-683
Serial:
- Transportation Research Part B: Methodological
- Volume: 41
- Issue Number: 6
- Publisher: Elsevier
- ISSN: 0191-2615
- Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/01912615

Subject/Index Terms

TRT Terms: Automobile drivers; Cities; Commuting; Competition; Departure time; Highway corridors; Kinematics; Merging traffic; Morning; Origin and destination; Roads; Socioeconomic factors; Theoretical studies; Vehicle spacing; Work trips
Uncontrolled Terms: Spillover
Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Society; I71: Traffic Theory;

Filing Info

Accession Number: 01051750
Record Type: Publication
Files: TRIS, ATRI
Created Date: Jun 6 2007 11:43AM