The Use of Cooperative Approach in Ramp Metering

To ensure higher Level of Service (LoS) at urban motorways, new traffic control concepts are being applied since in most cases there is no available space for infrastructural build-up. For urban motorways, the mostly used control methods are ramp metering combined with additional control methods like variable speed limit control (VSLC). This paper gives a review of the current ramp metering approaches with special emphasis on cooperative control concepts between ramp metering, VSLC, prohibiting lane changes system and the vehicle itself. Additionally, a learning framework for ramp metering proposed by the authors is described. The CTMSIM Matlab based macroscopic motorway simulator with ramp metering control support is used for the simulation of selected ramp metering approaches. The simulator is also augmented to enable the development and implementation of cooperative ramp metering approaches. The Zagreb bypass is used as test case for evaluation of several different ramp metering algorithms.