Traffic Network Optimum Principle - Minimum Probability of Congestion Occurrence

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new traffic network optimization principle that minimizes the probability of spontaneous traffic breakdowns at bottlenecks, leading to higher flow rates and sustained free flow compared to traditional methods.

Contribution

It introduces the network breakdown minimization (BM) principle, a novel approach for traffic flow optimization that reduces congestion risk at network bottlenecks.

Findings

BM principle achieves higher maximum flow rates without breakdown.

Compared to Wardrop's principles, BM significantly reduces breakdown probability.

Numerical simulations validate the effectiveness of the BM approach.

Abstract

We introduce an optimum principle for a vehicular traffic network with road bottlenecks. This network breakdown minimization (BM) principle states that the network optimum is reached, when link flow rates are assigned in the network in such a way that the probability for spontaneous occurrence of traffic breakdown at one of the network bottlenecks during a given observation time reaches the minimum possible value. Based on numerical simulations with a stochastic three-phase traffic flow model, we show that in comparison to the well-known Wardrop's principles the application of the BM principle permits considerably greater network inflow rates at which no traffic breakdown occurs and, therefore, free flow remains in the whole network.