Traffic Theory

In most predictive models for two-lane road traffic, it is assumed that platoons have no physical dimensions, thus restricting their applicability to light traffic where a platoon cannot be long enough to block the progression of the next one. In this paper a model that can be used for heavy traffic is presented. A queueing theory approach in which vehicles are allowed to have physical dimensions yields the platoon length distribution, the delays to fast vehicles, the headway process and the flow density diagram for both the space and time processes. Unlike in other models, the passing...

In a recent paper LeBlanc et al. presented an efficient mathematical algorithm to solve the multicommodity user-equilibrated network flow distribution problem with flow dependent costs. This paper shows how to generalize the algorithm to networks with link capacities and illustrates the modification with a simple numerical example.

This paper gives the approximation joint probability distribution function of the link traffic flows on a network. The knowledge of such distribution enables us to derive the log-likehood function for the estimation (with link data) of the traffic diversion parameter, Ф, that appears in most stochastic assignment models. It also enables us to perform goodness to fit statistical tests for the validation of traffic assignment methods. Both of these procedures are illustrated with a small numerical example. It is also pointed out that it is possible to calibrate and/or validate a traffic...

Present traffic assignment methods require that all possible origins and destinations of trips taking place within a study area be represented as if they were taking place to and from a small set of points or centroids. Each centroid is supposed to represent the location of all trip-ends within a given zone, and this necessarily misrepresents points located at the edges of the zone. In order to alleviate this problem (which we refer to as the spatial aggregation problem) one could use smaller zones and more centroids, but existing traffic assignment algorithms cannot efficiently handle...