Development of A Simulation Laboratory for Evaluating Ramp Metering Algorithms

As an efficient traffic control strategy to ameliorate freeway traffic congestion, ramp metering has been successfully applied in the US. However, the applicability and effectiveness of a ramp-metering strategy are required to be investigated during the preimplementation phase in order to ensure the success of the implementation. The use of traffic simulation models can provide a quick and cost-effective way to test and evaluate a ramp-metering algorithm prior to implementation on the freeway network. In this paper, a micro-simulation laboratory, based on a functionality-enhanced PARAMICS simulation model through integrating some complementary ATMIS modules, has been established for the evaluation study of ramp metering control. Three adaptive ramp metering algorithms, including ALINEA, BOTTLENECK and ZONE, have been evaluated in this PARAMICS simulation laboratory over a stretch of freeway I-405, California. Simulation results show that the two coordinated ramp-metering algorithms, i.e. BOTTLENECK and ZONE, perform better than the current fixed-time control and ALINEA algorithm under both morning and afternoon scenarios.