Freeway traffic congestion and associated delays have become a serious problem throughout much of the world. Among factors studied in relation to this congestion, lane-change maneuvers (LCMs) are suspected to be one source of traffic delay. Little empirical research has been done on this topic despite how common the lane-changing process is on multilane roadway segments. Two main problems hinder research: first, it is difficult to distinguish changes in delay caused by LCMs from that of a preexisting delay caused by a queue; second, quantifying LCMs is difficult because it requires both spatial and temporal coverage. This paper presents the concept of delay caused by LCMs and proposes a method to estimate such delays within a given lane relative to the situation in which no LCMs have taken place. This estimation method makes it possible to investigate the impact of LCMs on traffic delays based on vehicle trajectory data, which record the time and location of each vehicle at each instant. This preliminary study shows the effectiveness of the proposed method to estimate delays caused by LCMs and reveals how LCMs affect delays on congested freeway segments.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CoifmanB., KrishnamurthyS., and WangX.. Lane Change Maneuvers Consuming Freeway Capacity.Proceedings of the Traffic and Granular Flow 2003 Conference, Oct. 3, 2003, Delft, Netherlands, pp. 3–14.
2.
GazisD. C., HermanR., and WeissG. H.. Density Oscillations Between Lanes of Multilane Highways.Operations Research, Vol. 10, No. 5, 1962, pp. 658–667.
3.
MunjalP. K., and PipesL. A.. Propagation of On-Ramp Density Waves on Non-uniform Unidirectional Two-Lane Freeways.Transportation Research, Vol. 5, 1971, pp. 241–255.
4.
MichalopoulosP., BeskosD., and YamauchiY.. Multilane Traffic Flow Dynamics: Some Macroscopic Considerations.Transportation Research B, Vol. 18, 1984, pp. 377–393.
5.
WorrallR. D., BullenA. G. R., and GurY.. An Elementary Stochastic Model of Lane-Changing on a Multilane Highway. In Highway Research Record 308, HRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1970, pp. 1–12.
6.
SheuJ.-B.A Stochastic Modeling Approach to Dynamic Prediction of Section-wide Inter-lane and Intra-lane Traffic Variables Using Point Detector Data.Transportation Research A, Vol. 33, 1999, pp. 79–100.
7.
SheuJ.-B., and RitchieS. G.. Stochastic Modeling and Real-Time Prediction of Vehicular Lane-Changing Behavior.Transportation Research B, Vol. 35, 2001, pp. 695–716.
8.
GippsP. G.A Model for the Structure of Lane-Changing Decisions.Transportation Research B, Vol. 20, No. 5, 1986, pp. 403–414.
9.
YangQ., and KoutsopoulosH. N.. A Microscopic Traffic Simulator for Evaluation of Dynamic Traffic Management Systems.Transportation Research C, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1996, pp. 113–129.
10.
AhmedK. I., Ben-AkivaM., KoutsopoulosH. N., and MishalaniR. G.. Models of Freeway Lane Changing and Gap Acceptance Behavior.Proc., 13th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory, Lyon, France, 1996.
11.
ZhangY., OwenL. E., and ClarkJ. E.. Multiregime Approach for Microscopic Traffic Simulation. In Transportation Research Record 1644, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1998, pp. 103–115.
12.
HidasP.Modelling Lane Changing and Merging in Microscopic Traffic Simulation.Transportation Research C, Vol. 10, 2002, pp. 351–371.
13.
WeiH., MeyerE., LeeJ. J., and FengC.. Characterizing and Modeling Observed Lane-Changing Behavior: Lane-Vehicle-Based Microscopic Simulation on Urban Street Network. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1710, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 104–113.
14.
ToledoT., KoutsopoulosH. N., and Ben-AkivaM. E.. Modeling Integrated Lane-Changing Behavior. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1857, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington, D.C., 2003, pp. 30–38.
15.
MacCarleyA. C.Videobased Vehicle Signature Analysis and Tracking Phase1: Verification of Concept and Preliminary Testing.California PATH Working Paper, UCB-ITS-PWP-98-10, Berkeley, Calif.,1998.
16.
IzumiT., TakahashiY., and KiryuN.. Travel Time Measurement Using Ultrasonic Vehicle-Identification Equipment.The Transactions of the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, Vol. 120D, 2000, pp. 651–657.
17.
HellingaB.Automated Vehicle Identification Tag-Matching Algorithms for Estimating Vehicle Travel Times: Comparative Assessment. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1774, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 2001, pp. 106–114.
18.
CoifmanB.Vehicle Re-Identification and Travel Time Measurement in Real-Time on Freeways Using Existing Loop Detector Infrastructure. In Transportation Research Record 1643, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1998, pp. 181–191.
19.
CoifmanB., and CassidyM.. Vehicle Reidentification and Travel Time Measurement on Congested Freeways.Transportation Research A, Vol. 36, No. 10, 2002, pp. 899–917.
20.
CoifmanB.Identifying the Onset of Congestion Rapidly with Existing Traffic Detectors.Transportation Research A, Vol. 37, No. 3, 2003, pp. 277–291.
21.
CoifmanB.Estimating Travel Times and Vehicle Trajectories on Freeways Using Dual Loop Detectors.Transportation Research A, Vol. 36, No. 4, 2002, pp. 351–364.
22.
NewellG. F.A Simplified Car-Following Theory: A Lower Order Model.Transportation Research B, Vol. 36, 2002, pp. 195–205.
23.
NewellG. F.A Simplified Theory of Kinematic Waves in Highway Traffic, Part II: Queuing at Freeway Bottlenecks.Transportation Research B, Vol. 27, 1993, pp. 289–303.
24.
HallF. L., and GunterM. A.. Further Analysis of the Flow-Concentration Relationship. In Transportation Research Record 1091, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1986, pp. 1–9.
25.
BanksJ. H.Freeway Speed-Flow-Concentration Relationships: More Evidence and Interpretations. In Transportation Research Record 1225, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1989, pp. 53–60.
26.
CassidyM. J.Bivariate Relations in Nearly Stationary Highway Traffic.Transportation Research B, Vol. 32, 1998, pp. 49–59.
27.
CassidyM. J., and MauchM.. An Observed Feature of Long Freeway Traffic Queues.Transportation Research A, Vol. 35, 2001, pp. 143–156.
28.
MauchM., and CassidyM. J.. Freeway Traffic Oscillations: Observations and Predictions.Proc., 15th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory, Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2002, pp. 653–674.
29.
WindoverJ., and CassidyM.. Some Observed Details of Freeway Traffic Evolution.Transportation Research A, Vol. 35, 2001, pp. 881–894.
30.
CoifmanB., and WangY.. The Velocity of Waves Propagating Through Congested Freeway Traffic.Proc., 16th International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory, July 19–21, 2005, College Park, Md., pp. 165–179.
31.
EdieL.Discussion of Traffic Stream Measurements and Definitions.Proc., 2nd International Symposium on the Theory of Traffic Flow, OECD, Paris, 1963, pp. 139–154.
32.
SmithS. A.Freeway Data Collection for Studying Vehicle Interactions. Report No. FHWA/RD-85/108, FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1985.
33.
WangY., FosterD., and CoifmanB.. Measuring Wave Velocities on Highways During Congestion Using Cross Spectral Analysis.2004 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Conference, Washington, D.C., 2004, pp. 544–547.
