2013 Session: 828

• Comparing Calibrated Shared Space Simulation Model with Real-Life Data
  Abstract: Shared spaces are being implemented in many countries to deal with safety concerns and traffic flow problems in busy urban streets and street crossings. However shared space concepts could not be tested before being build so far due to the lack of a functioning traffic simulation that was able to incorporate social interactions between different transportation modes rather than following a purely rule based approach. The calibration of such a microscopic traffic simulation model using real world data from two shared space sites is presented in this paper. Furthermore, it is shown that the simulation can reproduce real life shared space behavior by comparing it to trajectory and interaction data collected at an implemented shared space project in Austria.
  Authors: Rudloff, Christian; Schönauer, Robert; Fellendorf, Martin
  Authors: Rudloff, Christian; Schönauer, Robert; Fellendorf, Martin
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-0616
• Feedback Perimeter Control for Multiregion and Heterogeneous Congested Cities
  Abstract: It was recently observed from empirical data that by aggregating the highly scattered plots of flow versus density from individual loop detectors for city regions with homogeneous spatial distribution of congestion, the scatter almost diminishes and a well-defined Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) exists between space-mean flow and density. These results can be of great importance to unveil simple and robust perimeter control policies in such a way that maximizes the network capacity and outflow. Single region perimeter control might not be optimal if there is a significant number of destinations outside the region of analysis or if the city is heterogeneously loaded. This paper integrates an MFD modeling to perimeter control optimization for large-scale cities with multiple centers of congestion, if these cities can be partitioned in a small number of homogeneous regions. Perimeter control actions may be computed in real-time through a linear multivariable feedback regulator or a linear multivariable integral feedback regulator. The impact of the perimeter control actions to a three-region urban network is demonstrated via micro-simulation. A key advantage of this approach is that it does not require high computational effort and future demand data if the state of each region can be observed.
  Authors: Aboudolas, Konstantinos; Geroliminis, Nikolas
  Authors: Aboudolas, Konstantinos; Geroliminis, Nikolas
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-2571
• Travel Time Reliability in Signal Control Problem: Simulation-Based Optimization Approach
  Abstract: Traffic signal control is a cost-effective way to make better use of the existing capacity of an urban transportation network. It is widely accepted that traffic signal benefits are not fully realized and there is plenty of room for improvement. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the potential of improving network reliability by using higher-order distributional information from detailed traffic simulators within signal control problems. In particular, higher-order travel time distributional information is used to derive signal plans that account for travel time reliability. In order to derive computationally efficient methods that embed non-efficient simulators, information from other more tractable traffic models is used throughout the optimization process. The role of these auxiliary models is to provide analytical structural information that enables good short-term algorithmic performance.The simulation-based optimization approach combines the information of expected link travel time with link travel time standard deviation. These two measures are used to address system efficiency and reliability considerations. The methodology is applied to the network of the Swiss city of Lausanne. Our approach proves that incorporating travel time reliability in the signal control problem would yield signal plans with reduced link travel time and reduced travel time variability.
  Authors: Chen, Xiao; Osorio, Carolina; Santos, Bruno Filipe
  Authors: Chen, Xiao; Osorio, Carolina; Santos, Bruno Filipe
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-2716
• Arterial Travel Time Estimation from Automatic Number Plate Recognition Data
  Abstract: Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) systems are increasingly used for the collection of traffic data in urban and freeway networks. A number of methods have been proposed for the estimation of travel time distributions from AVI data, mainly for freeways. This paper examines the problem in urban networks. The main difference is that urban network AVI data are often very noisy. A major source of noise is attributed to vehicles that do not traverse the monitored section directly, but stop for various reasons. The paper proposes a mixture model to capture the underlying states of the AVI travel time measurements in urban areas. The hypothesis is that travel times are drawn from two (or more) populations; one representing normal movement through the network and one representing vehicles which stop for whatever reason. The method is applied using AVI data [collected through an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system] from a number of locations in central Stockholm, Sweden. The model is estimated as a mixture of two log-normal distributions and bootstrap standard errors are calculated. The results illustrate the robustness of the method and its ability to identify the underlying distribution of the latent populations, in consistence with the characteristics of each route, while standard methods for outlier removal fail.
  Authors: Kazagli, Evanthia; Koutsopoulos, Haris N.
  Authors: Kazagli, Evanthia; Koutsopoulos, Haris N.
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-4700
• Feedback Perimeter Control for Multiregion and Heterogeneous Congested Cities
  Authors: Aboudolas, Konstantinos
  Authors: Aboudolas, Konstantinos
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-2571
• Scenario-Based Approach to Travel Time Reliability Analysis Using Traffic Simulation Models
  Authors: Kim, Jiwon
  Authors: Kim, Jiwon
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-3564
• Travel Time Reliability in Signal Control Problem: Simulation-Based Optimization Approach
  Authors: Chen, Xiao
  Authors: Chen, Xiao
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-2716
• Arterial Travel Time Estimation from Automatic Number Plate Recognition Data
  Authors: Koutsopoulos, Haris
  Authors: Koutsopoulos, Haris
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-4700
• Scenario-Based Approach to Travel Time Reliability Analysis Using Traffic Simulation Models
  Authors: Mahmassani, Hani
  Authors: Mahmassani, Hani
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Presentation
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-3564
• Scenario-Based Approach to Travel Time Reliability Analysis Using Traffic Simulation Models
  Abstract:

  This paper establishes a conceptual framework for capturing the probabilistic nature of travel times using existing traffic simulation models. The framework features three components: Scenario Manager, Traffic Simulation Models, and Trajectory Processor. The Scenario Manager captures exogenous sources of travel time variation through external scenarios consistent with real-world roadway disruptions. The traffic simulation models then produce individual vehicle trajectories for input scenarios while further introducing randomness stemming from endogenous sources of variations. Finally, the Trajectory Processor constructs travel time distributions either for each scenario or for multiple scenarios to allow users to investigate scenario-specific impact on travel time variability and overall system reliability. Within this framework, this paper discusses methodologies for performing the scenario-based reliability analysis focusing on approaches to obtaining travel time distributions from scenario-specific outputs; and issues and practices in designing and generating input scenarios. The proposed scenario-based approach is applied to a real-world network to show detailed procedures, analysis results and their implications.

  Authors: Kim, Jiwon; Mahmassani, Hani S.; Vovsha, Peter; Stogios, Yannis; Dong, Jing
  Authors: Kim, Jiwon; Mahmassani, Hani S.; Vovsha, Peter; Stogios, Yannis; Dong, Jing
  Year: 2013
  Document Type: Paper
  Subject: Operations and Traffic Management
  Session: 828
  Paper Number: 13-3564
  Practice-Ready: Yes