Abstract
State-of-the-art microscopic traffic simulation programs offer detailed modeling capabilities of vehicle interactions based on drivers, pedestrians, and highway elements. Consequently, these tools can help regional traffic management personnel make operational decisions by predicting future traffic conditions that result from incidents. This research sought to determine the effectiveness and timeliness of using a detailed microsimulation suite called Paramics to support personnel in a regional traffic management center in real-time decision making. Two sites in rural, high-crash areas of South Carolina were examined to see whether Paramics could provide decision information as quickly as desired by regional traffic management centers. Only certain combinations of incident durations and simulation accuracy satisfied the decision-time constraints for realtime decision support. Increasing the computational resources or reducing the size of the traffic network can provide decision support for longer incidents at higher accuracies and further allow microscopic traffic simulation to aid regional traffic management personnel in real-time decision making.
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