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Article
Urban Traffic Jam Simulation Based on the Cell Transmission Model
Networks and Spatial Economics (2011)
  • Jiancheng Long, Beijing Jiaotong University
  • Ziyou Gao, Beijing Jiaotong University
  • Xiaomei Zhao, Beijing Jiaotong University
  • Aiping Lian, Beijing Jiaotong University
  • Penina Orenstein, Seton Hall University
Abstract
There have been different approaches which have been proposed to understand the mechanism of traffic congestion propagation. In this paper, we use the cell transmission model and apply it to simulate the formation and dissipation of traffic jams at the microscopic level. In particular, our model focuses on jam propagation and dissipation in two-way rectangular grid networks. In the model, the downstream exit of the link is channelized to represent the interactions of vehicles in different directions. We have used traffic jam size and congestion delay to measure jam growth and dispersal. Numerical examples exploring the impact of model parameters on jam growth and congestion delay are provided. The simulation results show that there are two strategies to minimize jam size and reduce time for jam dissipation: (1) reduce the length of channelized area and, (2) allocate the stopline widths for all directions in the same ratio as the demands. Furthermore, we obtain some new results about gridlock and discuss the effect of incident position and link length on jam propagation.
Keywords
  • Traffic jams,
  • Cell transmission model,
  • Jam dissipation,
  • Channelization
Publication Date
March, 2011
DOI
10.1007/S11067-008-9080-9
Citation Information
Jiancheng Long, Ziyou Gao, Xiaomei Zhao, Aiping Lian, et al.. "Urban Traffic Jam Simulation Based on the Cell Transmission Model" Networks and Spatial Economics Vol. 11 Iss. 1 (2011) p. 43 - 64 ISSN: 1572-9427
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/penina-orenstein/19/