Mitigation of congestion at a traffic bottleneck with diversion and lane restrictions

Mitigation of congestion on a two-lane highway with an off-ramp and an on-ramp is simulated with three-phase traffic theory. Advanced travel information-the average velocity of vehicles near the bottleneck at an on-ramp-is used to divert vehicles at an upstream off-ramp. If enough vehicles divert, previously expanding synchronous flow congestion can be stalled and isolated to the region between the ramps. The introduction of lane restrictions (forbidding lane changing on the portion of highway between the ramps) in addition to diversion substantially reduces and essentially eliminates the congestion, restoring flow to nearly free-flow conditions.     

考虑自适应巡航车辆影响的上匝道系统混合交通流模型

在考虑自适应巡航(adaptive cruise control, ACC)车辆的交通流模型的基础上, 建立了考虑ACC车辆影响的上匝道系统混合交通流模型, 研究ACC车辆引入对上匝道交通系统交通流的影响. 为了描述ACC车辆和手动驾驶车辆在交通流运行中的差异, 分别构建了基于常车头时距原则的ACC 车辆跟驰子模型和手动驾驶车辆MCD元胞自动机子模型; 基于上匝道车辆合流驶入主线的需求, 建立了换道子模型, 引入了表征驾驶员换道心理的参数λ. 通过对混合交通流模型进行数值模拟发现, ACC车辆的混入可以有效改善上匝道系统交通流的运行, 降低合流等事件对于交通流运行的影响, 抑制交通拥堵的时空范围及拥堵强度, 提高交通流的平均速度和流量. 此外在混合交通流模型中, ACC车辆期望车头时距H_d的减小与换道心理参数λ 的增大均可以提高混合交通流运行的速度和流量, 而合流区长度l_w对混合交通流影响则因上匝道车辆驶入概率的不同而存在差异.     

The effects of accelerating lane in the on-ramp system

Usually there is an accelerating lane as an on-ramp merges with the main road. How the length of this section and the traffic regulations influence the traffic behaviors has seldom been investigated. In this paper, we study this issue using the cellular automata traffic flow model. We find that (i) the permission of lane changing from main road to the accelerating lane will deteriorate the capacity of the road, hence it should be forbidden; (ii) when lane changing from main road to accelerating lane is forbidden, the introduction of an accelerating lane can improve the capacity of the on-ramp system.     

信号灯控制下的主道双车道入匝道系统交通流特性研究

采用元胞自动机模型研究了具有信号灯控制的主道为双车道的入匝道系统交通流特性.将信号灯设置在入匝道口处,通过信号灯来引导主道和匝道上的车辆通行.分析了信号灯控制对主道与匝道的车流量、系统通行能力以及入匝道口处的车流平均速度的影响.通过相图比较,说明信号灯控制的双车道入匝道系统能模拟出比信号灯控制的单车道入匝道系统更加符合实际的交通流特性.与姜锐提出的模型［Jiang R 2003 J. Phys. A 36 11713］结果相比,信号灯控制下的匝道系统的交通流状态得到改善并且道路通行能力有所提 关键词： 交通流 元胞自动机 入匝道系统 信号灯     

Combined bottleneck effect of on-ramp and bus stop in a cellular automaton model

The combined bottleneck effect is investigated by modeling traffic systems with an on-ramp and a nearby bus stop in a two-lane cellular automaton model. Two cases, i.e. the bus stop locates in the downstream section of the on-ramp and the bus stop locates in the upstream section of the on-ramp, are considered separately. The upstream flux and downstream flux of the main road, as well as the on-ramp flux are analysed in detail, with respect to the entering probabilities and the distance between the on-ramp and the bus stop. It is found that the combination of the two bottlenecks causes the capacity to drop off, because the vehicles entering the main road from the on-ramp would interweave with the stopping (pulling-out) buses in the downstream (upstream) case. The traffic conflict in the former case is much heavier than that in the latter, causing the downstream main road to be utilized inefficiently. This suggests that the bus stop should be set in the upstream section of the on-ramp to enhance the capacity. The fluxes both on the main road and on the on-ramp vary with the distance between the two bottlenecks in both cases. However, the effects of distance disappear gradually at large distances. These findings might give some guidance to traffic optimization and management.     

多路段元胞自动机交通流模型

在经典单路段元胞自动机交通流模型的基础上,将多个路段视为一个道路系统,提出并研究了多路段条件下的交通流问题.针对多路段道路的特点,通过引入车辆流入规则、路口随机慢化规则和路口车辆流入规则,控制车辆从上一路段流入下一路段.首先提出了"汽车池"的概念,来控制每一路口车辆的流入;然后通过路口随机慢化,来模拟路口对交通的影响;最后,当车辆离开时,依直行率进入下一路段,实现车流的继续流动.同时,通过数值模拟,仿真了不同条件下的交通情况,对重要参数进行了研究.结果表明,出现了混合流这一新的现象,拥堵地段与非拥堵地段间存在明显的界限.拥堵往往最先从路口开始,然后蔓延到整个路段.多路段道路还存在临界突变的特性.随着车辆流入概率的增大,路口对平均速度和车流密度的影响愈加明显.当流入概率超过一定阈值时,车辆缓慢地增加也会引起整体道路通行能力的迅速下降.     

城市快速路系统的元胞自动机模型与分析

使用元胞自动机模型研究包含出入匝、主路和辅路的城市快速路系统的交通问题,为不同类型的路段定义了三种不同的换道规则.模拟结果表明,高入匝流量容易导致主路、匝道及其上游出现拥堵,高出匝流量容易使匝道出口车流与辅路内侧道车流发生冲突.入匝流量比较高时,主辅路为双车道的系统可以延缓交通拥堵和减少通行时间;当入匝流量较低时,双车道改善了单车道下辅路的通行状况. 关键词： 交通流 元胞自动机 换道规则 匝道     

Efficiency promotion for an on-ramp system based on intelligent transportation system information

<正>The effect of cars with intelligent transportation systems(ITSs) on traffic flow near an on-ramp is investigated by car-following simulations.By numerical simulations,the dependences of flux on the inflow rate are investigated for various proportions of cars with ITSs.The phase diagrams as well as the spatiotemporal diagrams are presented to show different traffic flow states on the main road and the on-ramp.The results show that the saturated flux on the main road increases and the free flow region is enlarged with the increase of the proportion of cars with ITS.Interestingly,the congested regions of the main road disappear completely when the proportion is larger than a critical value.Further investigation shows that the capacity of the on-ramp system can be promoted by 13%by using the ITS information, and the saturated flux on the on-ramp can be kept at an appropriate value by adjusting the proportion of cars with ITS.     

Traffic bottleneck characteristics caused by the reduction of lanes in an optimal velocity model

In this paper, the lane reduction bottleneck is investigated using the optimal velocity model, in which two kinds of vehicles (fast and slow) are introduced. The asymmetric lane changing rules in the slowdown section and the lane squeezing behaviors at the bottleneck are taken into account. Under the periodic boundary condition, the numerical simulations are performed. The traffic states change with increasing density. And an interesting phenomenon of ratio inversion appears. When the current saturates, the headway and velocity discontinuously vary with the position. In addition, traffic patterns and the phase transition points depend greatly on the speed limit and the length of the slowdown section.     

Effect of adaptive cruise control systems on mixed traffic flow near an on-ramp

Mixed traffic flow consisting of vehicles equipped with adaptive cruise control (ACC) and manually driven vehicles is analyzed using car-following simulations. Simulations of merging from an on-ramp onto a freeway reported in the literature have not thus far demonstrated a substantial positive impact of ACC. In this paper cooperative merging for ACC vehicles is proposed to improve throughput and increase distance traveled in a fixed time. In such a system an ACC vehicle senses not only the preceding vehicle in the same lane but also the vehicle immediately in front in the other lane. Prior to reaching the merge region, the ACC vehicle adjusts its velocity to ensure that a safe gap for merging is obtained. If on-ramp demand is moderate, cooperative merging produces significant improvement in throughput (20%) and increases up to 3.6 km in distance traveled in 600 s for 50% ACC mixed flow relative to the flow of all-manual vehicles. For large demand, it is shown that autonomous merging with cooperation in the flow of all ACC vehicles leads to throughput limited only by the downstream capacity, which is determined by speed limit and headway time.     

Phase diagram of speed gradient model with an on-ramp

In this paper, phase transitions are investigated in speed gradient model with an on-ramp. Phase diagrams of traffic flow composed of manually driven vehicles and adaptive cruise control (ACC) vehicles are studied, respectively. The traffic flow composed of ACC vehicles is modeled by enhancing propagation speed of small disturbance. The phase diagram of traffic flow composed of manually driven vehicles is similar to that in previous works, in which such states as pinned localized cluster (PLC), moving localized cluster (MLC), triggered stop-and-go traffic (TSG), oscillatory congested traffic (OCT), and homogeneous congested traffic (HCT) are reproduced. In the phase diagram of traffic flow composed of ACC vehicles, traffic stability is enhanced and such states as PLC, MLC, and TSG disappear. Furthermore, some interesting phenomena, such as stationary OCT upstream of on-ramp and appearance of second OCT in HCT, are identified.     

Predicting travel time to limit congestion at a highway bottleneck

A new method is proposed to predict the travel time on a highway route with a bottleneck caused by an on-ramp. The method takes advantage of the slow variation of the bottleneck throughput when congestion exists. The predicted travel time for a vehicle leaving the origin is given by the current number of vehicles on the route divided by the estimated throughput. The latter is an average of N/T recorded as each vehicle reaches the destination where N is the number of vehicles at the start of the trip and T is the time to complete the trip. Drivers divert to an off-ramp when the predicted travel time exceeds a target value. The target could be historical average travel times of alternative routes or chosen to limit the amount of congestion. Simulations employing three-phase traffic theory show that the travel time converges to the target value and remains close to or below it with the proposed prediction strategy. Strong oscillations in travel time obtained when other strategies are used for diversion do not develop with the new method because the inherent delay is effectively removed.     

Effect of the lane reduction in the cellular automata models applied to the two-lane traffic

More investigated situations in the field of traffic modelling are those of traffic bottlenecks caused by slow vehicles or road defects. The new aspect of this paper is the simulation of vehicular dynamics near a partial reduction in a road from two lanes to one lane. In order to reduce the bad impact of waiting vehicles behind the defect region, a strategy regulating the vehicle movement in the vicinity of the reduced lane is taken into account. The simulation model is based on the cellular automata model of Nagel–Schreckenberg with additional rules of lane change. The partial lane reduction strongly reduces the road capacity, and the added regulation strategy leads to a more interesting shape of the fundamental diagram, which depends on different constraints on the model parameters, e.g., the length of the reduced lane, the maximal speed, and the length of the connection sites near the entry of the reduced lane.     

基于元胞自动机模型的上匝道合流处交替通行控制的研究

上海市高架道路的上匝道合流处率先实施了交替通行的控制策略.以Fukui和Ishibashi提出的FI元胞自动机交通流模型为基础，对实施该策略前后的上匝道合流处分别建立合理的交通流模型，并对交通流进行了数值模拟和分析.结果表明：当高架路主线和上匝道的来流车辆较多时，交替通行控制可以大大改善高架道路交通；当交通流稀疏时，实施控制前后交通流状况基本不发生变化. 关键词： 元胞自动机模型 上匝道合流处 交替通行控制 数值模拟     

A cellular automaton model based on empirical observations of a driver’s oscillation behavior reproducing the findings from Kerner’s three-phase traffic theory

In this paper, we propose a new cellular automaton model based on the well known three-phase traffic theory. The model takes into account the mechanism of a driver’s oscillation behavior obtained from engineering experiments in real traffic conditions. This mechanism shows the inner competition between speed adaptation and distance adjustment effects. The speed adaptation effect leads to synchronized flow, whereas a pinch region emerges, associated with the spontaneous occurrence of wide moving jams, due to distance over-adjustment. Numerical simulations are carried out both with periodic and with open boundary conditions in order to investigate the spatiotemporal features of traffic flow. The results indicate that our model is able to reproduce the three distinct traffic phases and exhibit the four congested patterns upstream of an isolated on-ramp, which is in good consistency with the results predicted from the three-phase theory.     

Effect of driver over-acceleration on traffic breakdown in three-phase cellular automaton traffic flow models

Based on simulations with cellular automaton (CA) traffic flow models, a generic physical feature of the three-phase models studied in the paper is disclosed. The generic feature is a discontinuous character of driver over-acceleration caused by a combination of two qualitatively different mechanisms of over-acceleration: (i) Over-acceleration through lane changing to a faster lane, (ii) over-acceleration occurring in car-following without lane changing. Based on this generic feature a new three-phase CA traffic flow model is developed. This CA model explains the set of the fundamental empirical features of traffic breakdown in real heterogeneous traffic flow consisting of passenger vehicles and trucks. The model simulates also quantitative traffic pattern characteristics as measured in real heterogeneous flow.     

基于道路限速策略的规划路网噪声控制*

为缓解交通噪声污染,研究限速方案对噪声的影响,考虑道路限速策略下的阻抗函数,建立基于道路限速的随机用户均衡模型并实现路网交通分配,对规划路网在不同限速策略下的噪声控制规律进行研究。案例结果表明：道路限速控制对象应选取噪声影响道路;道路限速策略控制噪声的主要因素在于降低影响道路上出行车辆的出行速度,控制区域噪声值与路网总出行时间呈线性关系,道路限速80%的情况下,控制区域噪声和路网总出行时间分别降低2.94dB和增加0.66%;路网总噪声排放存在两种不同变化趋势,且与道路等级,绕行系数相关。研究可为从道路规划角度实现交通噪声控制提供有效参考。     

How the on-ramp inflow causes bottleneck

We study traffic dynamics in a simple system with three open boundaries. Traffic patterns in steady states are mainly controlled by boundary conditions. There are three distinct phases in the entire parameter space. We construct a phase diagram and develop a mean-field theory to derive the phase regimes. The influences of speed limit are also discussed. We identify three kinds of on-ramp bottleneck: localized bottleneck in free flow, severe bottleneck in congestion, and extended bottleneck in rush hours. The first two are steady and the third is dynamical. The on-ramp bottleneck can be enhanced significantly by the dynamical effects of rush hours.     

Cellular automaton model within the fundamental-diagram approach reproducing some findings of the three-phase theory

We propose a simple cellular automaton for traffic flow within the fundamental diagram, which could reproduce aspects of the three-phase theory. This so-called average space gap model (ASGM) is based on the Nagel–Schreckenberg model with additional slow-to-start and anticipation rules. The anticipation rule takes into account the average space gap of multiple leading vehicles and conveys to the model its three-phase property. Due to the anticipation rule, ASGM can show the transition from free flow to synchronized flow. Due to the slow-to-start rule, ASGM can show the spontaneous wide moving jam emerges in the synchronized flow. Simulations are carried out for periodic and open boundary conditions. Under periodic boundary condition, the fundamental diagram, and the properties of synchronized flow are studied. Under open boundary condition, different congested patterns induced by an on-ramp are analyzed. We found that the ASGM produces the same spatiotemporal dynamics as many of the more complex three-phase models. Due to its simplicity and its close relation to conventional slow-to-start models, this model can shed light on the relation between ‘two-phase’ and three-phase models.     

The effect of restricted velocity in the two-lane on-ramp system

Usually there are multi-lane on the main road of the on-ramp system. The drivers may decelerate for more safety when they are near the on-ramp. In addition, the car velocity may be restricted according to the traffic regulation. In this paper, we study phenomenon using the cellular automata traffic flow model. We find that: (i) the phase diagram of the two-lane on-ramp system appears a new region, in which the traffic of the on-ramp reaches maximum flow. (ii) The introduction of restricted velocity region will decrease capacity of the on-ramp, but reduce the drastic velocity fluctuation near the on-ramp.