Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The queue discharge problem at a signalized intersection was analyzed with application of the modified Pitt car-following system. The Pitt car-following system was implemented on an Excel spreadsheet in the form of a prototype simulation model. The situation consisted of a single intersection in which discharging vehicles were unconstrained by downstream conditions. It was asserted that the car-following parameters used in the queue discharge problem are significantly different from those used in the uninterrupted-flow problem and that this is consistent with the two-fluid model. A number of scenarios were executed for each situation, using the spreadsheet implementation to examine a number of issues, including the effect of the following: free-flow speed, car-following parameter variations, vehicle length, heterogeneous traffic streams, and lane changing. It was shown that all of these issues have significant effects on discharge headways and that the Pitt car-following system has a far wider range of applicability than the simple equal headway model. The intuitiveness of the findings and calibration and validation issues were also addressed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Lieberman

, et al. Traf Integrated Simulation Model, Phase II, Final Report, Vols. 1–4. KLD Associates, Huntington Station, N.Y., 1985.

Greenshields

B. D.

Distance and Time Required to Overtake and Pass Vehicles. Highway Research Board Proceedings, Vol. 15, 1935, pp. 332–342.

Lee

, and Chen

R. L.

. Entering Headway at Signalized Intersections in a Small Metropolitan Area. In Transportation Research Record 1091, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1986, pp. 117–126.

Gerlough

D. L.

, and Wagner

F. A.

. NCHRP Report 32: Improved Criteria for Traffic Signals at Individual Intersections. HRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1967.

Special Report 209: Highway Capacity Manual, 3rd ed. (1997 update). TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1998.

Herman

, and Prigogine

. A Two Fluid Approach to Town Traffic. Science, Vol. 204, 1979, pp. 148–151.

Traffic Flow Theory: A State of the Art Report ( Gartner

and Messer

C. J.

, eds.), Chapter 6, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Transportation Research Board. http://www-cta.ornl.gov/cta/research/trb/tft.html. Accessed June 28, 2002.

Bonneson

J. A.

Modeling Queued Driver Behavior at Signalized Junctions. In Transportation Research Record 1365, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1992, pp. 99–107.

Herman

, Larn

, and Rothery

R. W.

. The Starting Characteristics of Automobile Platoons. In Proc. 5th International Conference on the Theory of Traffic Flow and Transportation, American Elsevier Publishing Co., New York, 1971.

10.

Coffman

, et al. The Berkeley Highway Laboratory: Building on the I-880 Experiment. In Proc. 3rd IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, Dearborn, Mich., Oct. 2000.

Application of Car-Following Systems to Queue Discharge Problem at Signalized Intersections

Abstract

Get full access to this article

References