ITS Berkeley

This article shows that certain congestion reduction schemes have the potential for not penalizing anyone. The traditional social welfare approach is modified to address the distribution of gains and losses across the population. As a first step in this line of research, we consider a transportation system where congestion delay is simply given by a function of its user flow. We show that a particular pricing scheme with variable tolls, that can be viewed as hybrid between rationing and pricing, can benefit everyone (unlike pure pricing alone) even if the collected revenues are not...

This article shows how the evolution of multi-commodity traffic flows over complex networks can be predicted over time, based on a simple macroscopic computer representation of traffic flow that is consistent with the kinematic wave theory under all traffic conditions. The method does not use ad hoc procedures to treat special situations. After a brief review of the basic model for one link, the article describes how three-legged junctions can be modeled. It then introduces a numerical procedure for networks, assuming that a time-varying origin-destination (O-D) table is given and that the...

Although the “first order” continuum theory of highway traffic proposed by Lighthill and Whitham (1955) and Richards (1956)—the LWR model—can predict some things rather well, it is also known to have some deficiencies. In an attempt to correct some of these, “higher order” theories have been proposed starting in the early 70s. Unfortunately, the usefulness of these improvements can be questioned. This note describes the logical flaws in the arguments that have been advanced to derive higher order continuum models, and shows that the proposed high order modifications lead to a fundamentally...

This paper is concerned with technical investigations of traffic operations on automated highways. Estimates are made of the steady-state capacity of such freeways, paying particular attention to the effect of entry and exit maneuvers. The possibility of scheduling departing vehicles appropriately into platoons to minimize extraneous maneuvers is investigated. Characteristics of urban areas likely to be candidates for automated freeways are discussed, and some shortcomings of automated freeways, vis-à-vis conventional freeways, are pointed out. Finally, some areas of future research needs...