Roads/Highways

Transportation Opportunities and Constraints: The Performance of Urban Highway Transportation

Garrison, William L.
1987

This report is the first in a series. The objective of the series is the definition of opportunities for shafp improvements in highway system performance, say, improvements on the order of two or more. Toward that objective, this first report considers system performance as such and the status of the economic and social services enabled by the system.The report presents a first-pass analysis. Revisions are intended as the work continues.

Communication Requirements and Network Design for IVHS

Hsu, Ivy Pei-Shan
Walrand, Jean
1993

This paper presents the communication needs between vehicles and the roadside infrastructure for IVHS applications. The requirements of each application, in terms of message length, frequency, and acceptable delay, are estimated. Based on these estimates, we assess the amount of radio spectrum needed to support these applications. We find that about 1.2 MHz is required to support full highway coverage. We discuss the topology and capacity allocation problems for the road-based network and present one possible implementation. We show a case study of network design and link capacity...

High Occupancy Vehicle/Toll Lanes: How Do They Operate and Where Do They Make Sense?

Dahlgren, Joy
1999

Motivated by the need for better utilization of existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes and the potential of high-occupancy/toll (HOT) lanes to increase utilization, this paper examines the circumstances in which HOT lanes could provide a more desirable alternative to HOV lanes. First, it compares the HOT and HOV lane concepts, showing how they are similar and how they differ. Both involve finding some type of equilibrium in which no additional people are motivated to use the lane. However, in the case of the HOT lane, the agency operating the facility can affect the equilibrium point...

Evaluation Methods for Measuring the Value of ITS Services and Benefits from Implementation: Part X Freeway Service Patrols

Levinson, David
Parthasarathi, Pavithra Kandadai
2001

The goal of our report is to determine the value that people place on the benefits offered by freeway service patrols in comparison to private assistance services and how much they would be willing to pay to avoid being stranded when their vehicle breaks down on the freeway. The report investigates the factors that contribute to people choosing to rely on the highway assistance services in comparison to the private assistance services. The studies conducted so far have focused on the effectiveness of the freeway service patrol whereas this report analyzes the factors that influence people...

Video-based Vehicle Signature Analysis and Tracking System Phase 2: Algorithm Development and Preliminary Testing

MacCarley, Arthur C.
2001

This report describes the results of the PATH/Caltrans-funded project Video-Base Signature Analysis and Tracking (V2SAT) System, Phase 2 Algorithm Development and Preliminary Testing. The V2SATSystem was conceived in 1995 by Loragen Systems, of San Luis Obispo, California, as a means for non-intrusively tracking individual vehicles on freeways for data collection purposes. The concept involves the use of computer vision methods to make simple optical measurements on digitized real-time images of each vehicle on the freeway. A conventional color video camera serves as the primary sensor....

Incident Management with Advanced Traveller Information Systems

Al-Deek, Haitham
Kanafani, Adib
1991

Advanced Traveller Information Systems (ATIS) can be used to collect and disseminate dynamic information about travel times on highway links. One of the potential uses of these systems is to manage incidents. The objective of this research is to showunder what incident conditions is it relevant to provide real time traffic information to travellers.A model that uses graphical queueing techniques is utilized to define cases when ATIS is beneficial and cases when it is not, and to evaluate its benefits as measured by travel time savings. The model is applied to a simple road network with two...

An Economic Analysis Of Network Deployment And Application To Road Pricing

Levinson, David
1998

This paper develops an economic framework for developing strategies necessary to deploy networks, and applies the framework to the deployment of road pricing. The cost structure of highways are discussed. A graphical method for measuring welfare with road pricing is presented. The relationship of space and financing mechanism is reviewed. A network model of the economy is presented. This is followed by a discussion of network externalities, and how those relate to both the deployment and emergence of technologies. Finally, the deployment of three main elements relating to road pricing: use...

TravInfo Evaluation (Technology Element) Traveler Information Center (TIC) Study: Operator Response Time Analysis

Miller, Mark A.
Loukakos, Dimitri
2000

TravInfo (TM) is an advanced traveler information system for the San Francisco Bay Area that began operation in September 1996 under a public/private partnership. The public sector component centers on the Traveler Information Center (TIC), TravInfo (TM)'s information gathering, processing, and dissemination hub. For two years, until September 1998, TravInfo (TM) was a Field Operational Test (FOT) sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration. During the FOT, the TIC was evaluated. This report documents the analysis of operator response time. Response times remained stable throughout the...

Experimental Characterization of Multi-Lane Freeway Traffic Upstream of an Off-Ramp Bottleneck

Munoz, Juan Carlos
Daganzo, Carlos
2000

This report describes field observations of multi-lane freeway traffic upstream of an oversaturated off-ramp. It is based on empirical evidence from freeway I-880 (northbound) near Oakland, California. The report presents two diagnostic tools that reveal hidden features of the traffic stream and, based on these findings, proposes congestion mitigation strategies that could work for similar locations with little or no construction.

On Fundamental Issues Of Vehicle Steering Control For Highway

Guldner, Jurgen
Tan, Han-shue
1997

This paper discusses fundamental issues in lateral control design for automatic steering of passenger cars within an Automated Highway System ( AHS). A detailed analysis using time and frequency domain tools together with physical insight into the vehicle dynamics is presented. Several design directions are investigated, both for look-down and look-ahead systems. In order to preserve the qualities of look-down systems, the concept of virtual look-ahead via additional yaw error and yaw rate error measurements is introduced. The authors conclude that proportional-type feedback design...