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There are differences between the requirements for traffic network for traffic demand in daily and emergency situations. In order to evaluate how the network designed for daily needs can meet the surging demand for emergency evacuation, the concept of emergency reliability and corresponding evaluation method is proposed. This paper constructs a bilevel programming model to describe the proposed problem. The upper level problem takes the maximum reserve capacity multiplier as the optimization objective and considers the influence of reversible lane measures taken under emergency conditions. The lower level model adopts the combined traffic distribution/assignment model with capacity limits, to describe evacuees' path and shelter choice behavior under emergency conditions and take into account the traits of crowded traffic. An iterative optimization method is proposed to solve the upper level model, and the lower level model is transformed into a UE assignment problem with capacity limits over a network of multiple origins and single destination, by adding a dummy node and several dummy links in the network. Then a dynamic penalty function algorithm is used to solve the problem. In the end, numerical studies and results are provided to demonstrate the rationality of the proposed model and feasibility of the proposed solution algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates roundabout capacity analysis using mathematical modelling and microscopic simulation. The capacity in approach section in roundabout is calculated by estimating the number of vehicles that can enter a roundabout for a given approach given a certain circulating volume. Since roundabouts are working with only yield conditions, capacity is dependent on gap acceptance model. Priority rules are used to simulate the gap acceptance model and define the right-of-way for conflicting movements. In the case of roundabouts, priority rules can be utilized to establish right-of-way at each of the conflict points where the approach traffic merges with the circulating traffic of the roundabout. By altering the minimum acceptable gap and related parameters, it is possible to calibrate a simulation model to be that of a real-life roundabout or that of a theoretical roundabout that meets the operating characteristics defined in current capacity models. The proposed roundabout capacity analysis methodology is expected to assist modelling operational conditions for roundabouts. Results are presented that provide evidence to validate the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Train dwell time estimation is a critical issue in both scheduling and rescheduling phases. In a previous paper, the authors proposed a novel dwell time estimation model at short stops which did not require the passenger data. This model shows promising results when applied to Dutch railway stations. This paper focuses on testing and improving the generality of the model by two steps: first, the model is tested by applying more independent datasets from another city and comparing the estimation accuracy with the previous Dutch case; second, the model’s generality is tested by a theoretical approach through the analysis of individual model parameters, variables, model scenarios, and model structure as well as work conditions. The validation results during peak hours show that the MAPE of the model is 11.4%, which is slightly better than the results for the Dutch railway stations. A more generalized predictor called “dwell time at the associated station” is used to replace the square root term in the original model. The improved model can estimate train dwell time in all the investigated stations during both peak and off-peak periods. We conclude that the proposed train dwell time estimation model is generic in the given condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entry capacity loss at multilane roundabouts caused by rainfall was investigated. Traffic and rainfall data were collected continuously for eight weeks at selected sites in South Africa and Malaysia. Three classes of rainfall (light, moderate, and heavy) were used. Both linear and exponential techniques were used to model the relationship between entry and circulating traffic flows. Correction factor for entry angle and radius was introduced in the linear model equations to allow for variations in geometric data. Correction factor is not required for the exponential model technique. Notwithstanding, both techniques predicted that entry capacity loss would result from rainfalls irrespective of their intensity. Results show that light rainfall may cause about 5% entry and circulating capacity loss, moderate rainfall may cause about 12% capacity loss, and heavy rainfall may cause about 17% capacity loss. This paper proposed further studies into the effect of two circulating lanes rather than one on entry capacity at roundabouts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to study the headway distribution of queued vehicles (less than 16 vehicles) at signalized intersections. Existing studies usually take the average statistics of headway at any queuing place. When different percentile points of statistical data are assigned to headway, the passing rate (the rate of all queued vehicles passing the stop line) under the ideal signal timing scheme varies. When selecting the mean value, the passing rate of a queue of fewer than 16 vehicles is no more than 65%. When selecting 75% as the percentile, the passing rate is up to 94%. The queue length also decides the assigned percentile of headway to ensure the passing rate reaches a certain level. The value assignation of headway directly affects lane capacity and start-up loss time. This paper provides a new perspective on parameter calibration and will make the signal timing algorithm method more effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dynamically changing road traffic model which occasionally suffers a disaster (traffic collision, wrecked vehicles, conflicting weather conditions, spilled cargo, and hazardous matter) resulting in loss of all the vehicles (diverted to other routes) has been discussed. Once the system gets repaired, it undergoes n-1 trial phases and finally reaches its full capacity phase n. We have obtained the explicit steady state probabilities of the system via Matrix Geometric Method. Probability Generating Function is used to evaluate the time spent by the system in each phase. Various performance measures like mean traffic, average waiting time of vehicles, and fraction of vehicles lost are calculated. Some special cases have also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of designing a layout of bike stations for public bike-sharing systems entails selecting a number of stations and then constructing them within a planning area having many bike traffic zones and candidate bike stations. In this paper, we proposed a mathematical model to formulate the layout of public bike stations with the objective of minimizing users' total travel time and investment budget constraints. The model can guarantee that the needs for picking up and dropping off bikes amidst all bike travel demands are satisfied. Using this model, the number and locations of bike stations and the number of bikes and parking lockers at each bike station can be simultaneously determined. A typical example solved by LINGO solver is created to illustrate the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the problems of short-term traffic flow forecasting. The main goal is to put forward traffic correlation model and real-time correction algorithm for traffic flow forecasting. Traffic correlation model is established based on the temporal-spatial-historical correlation characteristic of traffic big data. In order to simplify the traffic correlation model, this paper presents correction coefficients optimization algorithm. Considering multistate characteristic of traffic big data, a dynamic part is added to traffic correlation model. Real-time correction algorithm based on Fuzzy Neural Network is presented to overcome the nonlinear mapping problems. A case study based on a real-world road network in Beijing, China, is implemented to test the efficiency and applicability of the proposed modeling methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY The majority of US metropolitan regions still use the four-step urban transportation modeling system to develop their travel forecasts. Trip generation, the first step of this system, has as objective of predicting the expected total travel demand in a region. The commonly used methods in planning practice for predicting this expected total travel demand typically use only the most recent cross-sectional data available from a study region for model development, which ties the resulting travel-forecast model to the economic environment prevailing at the time of data collection. Applying such models to generate forecasts of travel in economic environments significantly different from those embodied in the estimated model parameters could result in greater errors than would otherwise be the case. To address the aforementioned problem, this paper proposes the development of trip generation models estimated on multiple independent cross-sectional datasets collected in the same urban region but at different times representing different economic environments. Data used in the research were collected in cross-sectional household travel behavior surveys undertaken in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada in 1986, 1996, 2001, and 2006. The results lead to the conclusion that well-specified models, estimated on pooled multiple cross-sectional datasets, yield travel predictions in the base and horizon years, respectively, that have smaller error compared with corresponding travel predictions generated with single cross-sectional models. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the efficiency of multimodal evacuation, a network aggregation method and an integrated contra flow strategy are proposed in this paper. The network aggregation method indicates the uncertain evacuation demand on the arterial subnetwork and balances accuracy and efficiency by refining the local road subnetworks. The integrated contraflow strategy contains three arterial configurations: noncontraflow to shorten the strategy setup time, full-lane contraflow to maximize the evacuation network capacity, and bus contraflow to realize the transit cycle operation. The application of this strategy takes two steps to provide transit priority during evacuation: solve the transit-based evacuation problem with a minimum-cost flow model, firstly, and then address the autobased evacuation problem with a bilevel network flow model. The numerical results from optimizing an evacuation network for a super typhoon justify the validness and usefulness of the network aggregation method and the integrated contraflow strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the morning and evening rush hour, the two-way road flows are always unbalanced in opposite directions. In order tomake full advantage of the existing lanes, the two-way road lane has to be reallocated to play the best role in managing congestion. On the other hand, an effective tradable credit scheme can help to reduce the traffic demand and improve fairness for all travelers. So as to alleviate the commute congestion in urban transportation network, a discrete bilevel programming model is established in this paper. In the bilevel model, the government at the upper level reallocates lanes on the two-way road to minimize the total system cost. The traveler at the lower level chooses the optimal route on the basis of both travel time and credit charging for the lanes involved. A numerical experiment is conducted to examine the efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proactive traffic control based on macroscopic traffic flow model is an innovative approach to active traffic management. An online, model predictive control (MPC) based active traffic control algorithm, DynaTAM, is proposed to implement integrated control through ramp metering (RM) and variable speed limit (VSL). DynaTAM predicts traffic states to anticipate incoming traffic congestion and to provide control plan recommendations for optimizing the network traffic conditions. However, as with other sophisticated prediction-based control algorithms, a system fine-tuning procedure is required for DynaTAM. In this study, two aspects will be addressed to further improve system performance. First, the control algorithm is evaluated to find the correlations between the prediction horizon length and the controlled system performance to suggest the most efficient prediction horizon length for the control algorithm. Second, safety considerations are quantitatively incorporated into the control algorithm. The control algorithm optimizes the traffic network targeting the cost reductions achieved by both improved mobility and reduced crash risk. A field-data-based simulation study is conducted to evaluate the system performance within various parameters and to determine the most suitable algorithm parameters. Optimized by the refined DynaTAM algorithm, the targeted area shows significant improvements in terms of both traffic safety and mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical gap is an important parameter used to calculate the capacity and delay of minor road in gap acceptance theory of unsignalized intersections. At an unsignalized intersection with two one-way traffic flows, it is assumed that two events are independent between vehicles' arrival of major stream and vehicles' arrival of minor stream. The head ways of major stream follow M3 distribution. Based on Raff's definition of critical gap, two calculation models are derived, which are named M3 definition model and revised Raff's model. Both models use total rejected coefficient. Different calculation models are compared by simulation and new models are found to be valid. The conclusion reveals that M3 definition model is simple and valid. Revised Raff's model strictly obeys the definition of Raff's critical gap and its application field is more extensive than Raff's model. It can get a more accurate result than the former Raff's model. The M3 definition model and revised Raff's model can derive accordant result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve a more accurate and robust traffic volume prediction model, the sensitivity of wavelet neural network model (WNNM) is analyzed in this study. Based on real loop detector data which is provided by traffic police detachment of Maanshan, WNNMis discussed with different numbers of input neurons, different number of hidden neurons, and traffic volume for different time intervals. The test results show that the performance of WNNM depends heavily on network parameters and time interval of traffic volume. In addition, the WNNM with 4 input neurons and 6 hidden neurons is the optimal predictor with more accuracy, stability, and adaptability. At the same time, amuch better prediction record will be achieved with the time interval of traffic volume are 15 minutes. In addition, the optimized WNNM is compared with the widely used back-propagation neural network (BPNN). The comparison results indicated that WNNM produce much lower values of MAE, MAPE, and VAPE than BPNN, which proves that WNNM performs better on short-term traffic volume prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A technique has been developed for predicting road traffic noise for environmental assessment, taking into account traffic volume as well as road surface conditions. The ASJ model (ASJ Prediction Model for Road Traffic Noise, 1999), which is based on the sound power level of the noise emitted by the interaction between the road surface and tires, employs regression models for two road surface types: dense-graded asphalt (DGA) and permeable asphalt (PA). However, thesemodels are not applicable to other types of road surfaces. Accordingly, this paper introduces a parameter estimation procedure for ASJ-based noise predictionmodels, utilizing a harmony search (HS) algorithm. Traffic noise measurement data for four different vehicle types were used in the algorithm to determine the regression parameters for several road surface types. The parameters of the traffic noise prediction models were evaluated using another measurement set, and good agreement was observed between the predicted and measured sound power levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY This paper proposes a stepwise genetic fuzzy logic controller (SGFLC) by considering traffic flows and queue lengths of cars and motorcycles as state variables and extension of green time as control variable, towards the minimization of total vehicle delays. For the learning efficiency of SGFLC and the capability in capturing traffic behaviors of Asian urban streets, where mixed traffic of cars and motorcycles are prevailing, the mixed traffic cell transmission model (MCTM) is introduced to replicate traffic behaviors. To investigate the control performance of the proposed SGFLC model, comparisons with two pre-timed timing plans and three adaptive signal timing models are conducted at an isolated intersection. Results show our proposed SGFLC model performs best. Moreover, as traffic flows vary more noticeably, the SGFLC model performs even better. In the experimental and field cases of three-intersection arterial under four coordinated signal systems, namely simultaneous, progressive, alternate and independent, both cases consistently show that the proposed SGFLC model perform best, suggesting that the proposed SGFLC signal control model is efficient and robust. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Snowy weather will significantly degrade expressway operations, reduce service levels, and increase driving difficulty. Furthermore, the impact of snow varies in different types of roads, diverse cities, and snow densities due to different driving behavior. Traffic flow parameters are essential to decide what should be appropriate for weather-related traffic management and control strategies. This paper takes Beijing as a case study and analyzes traffic flow data collected by detectors in expressways. By comparing the performance of traffic flow under normal and snowy weather conditions, this paper quantitatively describes the impact of adverse weather on expressway volume and average speeds. Results indicate that average speeds on the Beijing expressway under heavy snow conditions decrease by 10-20 km/h when compared to those under normal weather conditions, the vehicle headway generally increases by 2-4 seconds, and the road capacity drops by about 33%. This paper also develops a specific expressway traffic parameter reduction model which proposes reduction coefficients of expressway volumes and speeds under various snow density conditions in Beijing. The conclusions paper provide effective foundational parameters for urban expressway controls and traffic management under snow conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The merge control models proposed for work zones are classified into two types (Hard Control Merge (HCM) model and Soft Control Merge (SCM) model) according to their own control intensity and are compared with a new model, called Individual Subjective Initiative Merge (ISIM) model, which is based on the linear lane-changing probability strategy in the merging area. The attention of this paper is paid to the positive impact of the individual subjective initiative for the whole traffic system. Three models (ISIM, HCM, and SCM) are established and compared with each other by two order parameters, that is, system output and average vehicle travel time. Finally, numerical results show that both ISIM and SCM perform better than HCM. Compared with SCM, the output of ISIM is 20 vehicles per hour higher under the symmetric input condition and is more stable under the asymmetric input condition. Meanwhile, the average travel time of ISIM is 2000 time steps less under the oversaturated input condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a degree-of-priority based control strategy for emergency vehicle preemption operation to decrease the impacts of emergency vehicles on normal traffic.The proposed model features its effectiveness to the following three aspects: (1) a multilayer fuzzy model was established to determine the degree-of-priority based on emergency vehicle preemption demand intensity and preemption influence intensity; (2) for emergency vehicles with proper classification, a travel time estimation model for emergency traffic was formulated, an optimal emergency route determines model based on the level of priority of emergency events, and the emergency vehicle travel time was developed to minimize evacuation time as well as minimize the adverse impacts of preemption on normal traffic; and (3) a conditional traffic signals priority control method at each intersection of the evacuation route was built, so that traffic queue at each intersection can be cleared before the arrival of emergency vehicles. A simulation model based on field data was developed, and the performance of the proposed strategy was compared with the conventional local detection based method under the microscopic simulation model. The results validated the efficiency of the proposed strategy in terms of minimizing the delay of emergency vehicles and reducing adverse impacts on normal traffic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the effect of the parking on heterogeneous commuters' travel choice in a competitive transportation system which consists of a subway and a parallel road with a bottleneck of limited service capacity. Every morning, commuters either use their private cars only or drive their cars to the bottleneck, park there, and then take the subway to the destination. Considering the effects caused by body congestion in carriage and the parking fees, we developed a bottleneck model to describe the commuters' travel choice. There exist several types of equilibrium that corresponds to user equilibrium. We investigated the influence of the capacity of the bottleneck and the total travel demand on the travel behaviors and on the total social cost. It is shown that there exists a scheme with suitable subway fare and parking fees to implement the minimum total social cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many traffic problems in China such as traffic jams and air pollutions are mainly caused by the increasing traffic volume. In order to alleviate the traffic congestion and improve the network performance, the analysis of traffic state and congestion propagation has attracted a great interest. In this paper, an improved mesoscopic traffic flow model is proposed to capture the speed-density relationship on segments, the length of queue, the flow on links, and so forth,The self-developed dynamic traffic simulation software (DynaCHINA) is used to reproduce the traffic congestion and propagation in a bidirectional grid network for different demand levels. The simulation results show that the proposed model and method are capable of capturing the real traffic states. Hence, our results can provide decision supports for the urban traffic management and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a nonlinear min-cost-pursued swapping dynamic (NMSD) system to model the evolution of selfish routing games on traffic network where travelers only swap from previous costly routes to the least costly ones. NMSD is a rational behavior adjustment process with stationary link flow pattern being the Wardrop user equilibrium. NMSD is able to prevent two behavioral deficiencies suffered by the existing min-cost-oriented models and keep solution invariance. NMSD relaxes the homogeneous user assumption, and the continuous-time NMSD (CNMSD) and discrete-time NMSD (DNMSD) share the same revision protocol. Moreover,CNMSDis Lyapunov-stable. Two numerical examples are conducted. The first one is designed to characterize the NMSD conducted network traffic evolution and test the stability of day-to-day NMSD. The second one aims to explore the impacts of network scale on the stability of route-swaps conducted by pairwise and min-cost-pursed swapping behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at testing the influence of emission factors on travelers' behavior of route choice. The generalized travel cost is defined as the linear weighted sum of emission factors, travel time, and travel time reliability. The relational model of exhaust volume and traffic volume is established using the BPR (Bureau of Public Road) function to calculate the cost of travel regarding emission. The BPR function is used to measure the road segment travel time, while the reliability is used to quantify the cost of travel time fluctuation. At last, the route choice model considering the generalized travel cost is established based on the game theory. The calculating and analyzing of results under a miniature road network show that the weight coefficient of travel cost influences the travelers' behavior of route choice remarkably and the route choice model which takes emission into account can reduce the exhaust of road network effectively, approximately 11.4% in this case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an important component of the urban adaptive traffic control system, subarea partition algorithm divides the road network into some small subareas and then determines the optimal signal control mode for each signalized intersection. Correlation model is the core of subarea partition algorithm because it can quantify the correlation degree of adjacent signalized intersections and decides whether these intersections can be grouped into one subarea. In most cases, there are more than two intersections in one subarea. However, current researches only focus on the correlation model for two adjacent intersections. The objective of this study is to develop a model which can calculate the correlation degree of multiple intersections adaptively. The cycle lengths, link lengths, number of intersections, and path flow between upstream and downstream coordinated phases were selected as the contributing factors of the correlation model. Their jointly impacts on the performance of the coordinated control mode relative to the isolated control mode were further studied using numerical experiments. The paper then proposed a correlation index (CI) as an alternative to relative performance. The relationship between CI and the four contributing factors was established in order to predict the correlation, which determined whether adjacent intersections could be partitioned into one subarea. A value of 0 was set as the threshold of CI. If CI was larger than 0, multiple intersections could be partitioned into one subarea; otherwise, they should be separated. Finally, case studies were conducted in a real-life signalized network to evaluate the performance of the model. The results show that the CI simulates the relative performance well and could be a reliable index for subarea partition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We deal with an algorithm that, once origin and destination are fixed, individuates the route that permits to reach the destination in the shortest time, respecting an assigned maximal travel time, and with risks measure below a given threshold. A fluid dynamic model for road networks, according to initial car densities on roads and traffic coefficients at junctions, forecasts the future traffic evolution, giving dynamical weights to a constrained K shortest path algorithm. Simulations are performed on a case study to test the efficiency of the proposed procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a lane-level positioning method by trajectory reckoning without Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment in the environment of Cooperative Vehicle-Infrastructure System (CVIS). Firstly, the accuracy requirements of vehicle position in CVIS applications and the applicability of GPS positioning methods were analyzed. Then, a trajectory reckoning method based on speed and steering data from vehicle's Control Area Network (CAN) and roadside calibration facilities was proposed, which consists of three critical models, including real-time estimation of steering angle and vehicle direction, vehicle movement reckoning, and wireless calibration. Finally, the proposed method was validated through simulation and field tests under a variety of traffic conditions. Results show that the accuracy of the reckoned vehicle position can reach the lane level and match the requirements of common CVIS applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offset optimization is of critical importance to the traffic control system, especially when spillovers appear. In order to avoid vehicle queue spillovers, an arterial offset optimization model was presented in saturated arterial intersections based on minimizing the queue length over the whole duration of the saturated traffic environment. The paper uses the shockwave theory to analyze the queue evolution process of the intersection approach under the saturated traffic environment. Then through establishing and analyzing a function relationship between offset and the maximum queue length per cycle, a mapping model of offset and maximum queue length was established in the saturated condition. The validity and sensitivity of this model were tested by the VISSIM simulation environment. Finally, results showed that when volumes ratios are 0.525-0.6, adjusting offset reasonably under the saturated condition could decrease the queue length and effectively improve the vehicle operating efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Operators of parking guidance and information systems PGIS often encounter difficulty in determining when and how to provide reliable car park availability information to drivers. Reliability has become a key factor to ensure the benefits of urban PGIS. The present paper is the first to define the guiding parking reliability of urban parking variable message signs (VMSs). By analyzing the parking choice under guiding and optional parking lots, a guiding parking reliability model was constructed. A mathematical program was formulated to determine the guiding parking reliability of VMS. The procedures were applied to a numerical example, and the factors that affect guiding reliability were analyzed. The quantitative changes of the parking berths and the display conditions of VMS were found to be the most important factors influencing guiding reliability. The parking guiding VMS achieved the best benefit when the parking supply was close to or was less than the demand. The combination of a guiding parking reliability model and parking choice behavior offers potential for PGIS operators to reduce traffic congestion in central city areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The considerable impact of congestion on transportation networks is reflected by the vast amount of research papers dedicated to congestion identification, modeling, and alleviation. Despite this, the statistical characteristics of congestion, and particularly of its duration, have not been systematically studied, regardless of the fact that they can offer significant insights on its formation, effects and alleviation. We extend previous research by proposing the autoregressive conditional duration (ACD) approach for modeling congestion duration in urban signalized arterials. Results based on data from a signalized arterial indicate that a multiregime nonlinear ACD model best describes the observed congestion duration data while when it lasts longer than 18 minutes, traffic exhibits persistence and slow recovery rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular Automata (CA) modelling is extended to study the heterogeneous traffic observed in developing countries. In heterogeneous traffic, the physical and mechanical characteristics of different vehicles vary widely which in turn leads to complex traffic behaviour resulting in no-lane discipline. This nature of the heterogeneous traffic is modelled with the help of an improved discrete CA model. A detailed description of the methodology used in developing the basic structure of the CA model is presented and the modified methodology is used to generate different traffic scenarios. From the results, it is observed that with the help of simple updating rules along with typical heterogeneous traffic characteristics of the region, this model is able to reproduce real traffic behaviour. An added advantage is that the modified structure of the CA model can also be used to extract some basic traffic characteristics which are useful in understanding the heterogeneous traffic behaviour. The simulation model is finally validated using the flow and occupancy relationship obtained from the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a macroscopic model of lane-changing that is consistent with car-following behavior on a two-lane highway. Using linear stability theory, we find that lane-changing affects the stable region and the propagation speeds of the first-order and second-order waves. In analyzing a small disturbance, our model effectively reproduces certain non-equilibrium traffic-flow phenomena-small disturbance instability, stop-and-go waves, and local clusters that are affected by lane-changing. The model also gives the flow-density relationships in terms of the actual flow rate, the lane-changing rate, and the difference between the potential flow rate (the flow rate that would have occurred without lane-changing) and the actual flow rate. The relationships between the actual flow rate and traffic density and between the lane-changing rate and traffic density follow a reverse-lambda shape, which is largely consistent with observed traffic phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multimodal, multiclass stochastic dynamic traffic assignment model was developed to evaluate pre-trip and enroute travel information provision strategies. Three different information strategies were examined: user optimum [UO], system optimum [SO] and mixed optimum [MO]. These information provision strategies were analyzed based on the levels of traffic congestion and market penetration rate for the information equipment. Only two modes, bus and car, were used for evaluating and calculating the modal split ratio. Several scenarios were analyzed using day-to-day and within day dynamic models. From the results analyzed, it was found that when a traffic manager provides information for drivers using the UO strategy and drivers follow the provided information absolutely, the total travel time may increases over the case with no information. Such worsening occurs when drivers switch their routes and face traffic congestion on the alternative route. This phenomenon is the 'Braess Paradox'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]