Modeling and Route Guidance of Trucks in Metropolitan Areas

摘要

The efficient movement of goods in a metropolitan area, where congestion onhighways and surface streets is part of daily life, has become more and more challenging. In this project, we analyze the effect of trucks on traffic flow, and consider methods for routing trucks through a complex transportation network. Our results are presented in parts I and II of the report. In part I, using truck and driver models, we have shown that the slower dynamical response of trucks relative to that of passenger vehicles leads to lower traffic flow rates and influence the traffic flow characteristics in various ways that are analyzed. The analytical results compare well with those based on empirical studies presented in the Highway Capacity Manual. The dynamical characteristics of trucks are taken into account in part II in order to develop routing algorithms for trucks in a transportation network that involves highway and surface streets. We assume that traffic information is available on-line so that uncertainties due to variations in traffic conditions are eliminated or significantly reduced. Applying some of today's sensor and information technologies can satisfy this assumption.