We present in this paper a linear programming framework to address freeway control applications such as ramp metering. After showing the equivalence between the LWR model and a linear optimization problem, several extensions are introduced to model the ramp queues and the capacity drop phenomenon. A wide range of objective functions which are relevant in traffic engineering are then introduced ...

Non-recurrent congestion or incidents are detrimental to the operability and efficiency of busy urban transport networks. There exists multiple Automatic Incident Detection Algorithms (AIDA) to remotely detect the occurrence of an incident in highway or freeway scenarios, however very little research has been performed to automatically detect incidents in signalised urban arterials. This limite...

The goal of the study is to collect a comprehensive set of freeway and on-ramp operational data for the assessment of ramp metering systems. This paper is a presentation of data and initial findings for vehicle operations on loop ramps; a small subset of the larger project. The results reported here focus on the changes in modal activity (e.g. speed/acceleration) that occurred on two of the stu...

Freeway merging in congested traffic is a significant challenge toward fully automated driving. Merging vehicles need to decide not only how to merge into a spot, but also where to merge. We present a method for the freeway merging based on multi-policy decision making with a reinforcement learning method called passive actorcritic (pAC), which learns with less knowledge of the system and witho...

This paper addresses the problem of freeway traffic flow estimation. The freeway is considered as a network of components representing different freeway stretches called segments. The evolution of the traffic in a segment is modelled as a dynamic stochastic system, influenced by states of neighbour segments. Measurements are received only at boundaries between some segments and averaged within ...

This study uses regression analysis to evaluate long-run traffic management system performance. Three important traffic management systems in the Twin Cities metro area—Ramp Metering, Variable Message Signs, and Freeway Service Patrols (the Highway Helper Program) were evaluated using multiple regression models to predict link speed and incident rate. We find that ramp meters increase freeway l...

It is postulated that lane-changing vehicles create voids in traffic streams, and that these voids reduce flow. This mechanism is described with a model that tracks lane changers precisely, as particles endowed with realistic mechanical properties. The model has four easy-to-measure parameters and reproduces without re-calibration two bottleneck phenomena previously thought to be unrelated: (i)...

Ramp metering has been recognized as an effective freeway management strategy to either avoid or ameliorate freeway traffic congestion by limiting access to the freeway. California has applied ramp metering widely in major metropolitan areas. Currently, California has three major ramp metering systems: San Diego Ramp Metering System (SDRMS), Semi-Actuated Traffic Management System (SATMS), and ...