Evaluation of diversion strategies in the context of advanced traffic management systems (atms) for an urban traffic corridor with heterogeneous traffic

摘要

Most big cities in India are currently facing acute problems related to traffic management, resulting in severe congestion, pollution, and high rate of accidents in several arterials during peak hours. Occurrences of lane blocking incidents (such as accidents) on such arterials or urban traffic corridors cause major disruption to traffic flow. Peak hour congestion with low average speeds and high accident rates are commonly associated with traffic in major cities in India. The situation is deteriorating further as creation of new facilities are almost impossible, with resource and space constraints. In such scenarios, application of advanced technologies seems to offer hope. One such application area is Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS), a component of ITS. Such systems have been implemented in advanced countries; however, their application in Indian cities needs to be evaluated first, due to unique traffic characteristics prevailing here. This paper proposes a research methodology for the evaluation of diversion strategies in the context of ATMS for an urban corridor in India. The evaluation framework combines several relevant modules related to various aspects of traffic control, surveillance and advisory. Two models have been developed in this study – a simulation model and a simulation – optimization model. The simulation model is microscopic in nature and has been developed to capture the driver behaviour and traffic characteristics in a realistic fashion by modeling the complex interactions among vehicles traversing a corridor. The optimization-simulation methodology computes the least Total System Travel Time (TTST) in a relatively lesser computational time and in one pass. The findings arising out of model applications through the case study corridor have yielded useful insights on several aspects of traffic diversion planning. These findings can be exploited by traffic operators in managing traffic efficiently during lane blockages. The computer models developed in this study can serve as useful tools in developing optimal diversion strategies.