Control of Spatial-Temporal Congested Traffic Patterns at Highway Bottlenecks

TL;DR

This paper presents a microscopic traffic flow model to analyze and compare control strategies like on-ramp metering and ACC vehicles for mitigating congestion at highway bottlenecks.

Contribution

It introduces a new microscopic model within three-phase traffic theory to simulate and evaluate congestion control strategies at freeway bottlenecks.

Findings

On-ramp metering with feedback reduces congestion.

Automatic cruise control vehicles improve traffic flow.

The model accurately reproduces observed congested patterns.

Abstract

A microscopic theory of control of spatial-temporal congested traffic pattern at freeway bottlenecks is presented. Based on empirical spatial-temporal features of congested patterns at freeway bottlenecks which have recently been found, different control strategies for prevention or reducing of the patterns are simulated and compared. The studied control strategies include the on-ramp metering with feedback and automatic cruise control (ACC) vehicles. A recent microscopic traffic flow model within the author's three-phase traffic theory is used for validation of spatial-temporal congested pattern control.