Active Bottleneck Management on Freeways Through Connected Vehicles

Bottlenecks along freeways (such as lane drops, tunnels, sag curves, etc.) have lower capacities than their upstream segments. Consequently, they are the constriction points where traffic congestion occurs whenever the inflow or demand exceeds capacity. To minimize congestion-­related delays it is essential to ensure that the throughput at these choke points is kept as high as possible while not compromising capacity due to incidents or irregular/turbulent traffic flow. In addition, it is well-­known that bottleneck capacity drops by as much as 10-­20% when traffic breakdowns occur at bottleneck locations (1-­4). To avoid such capacity drops, Active Traffic Management (ATM) strategies have been developed. These include adaptive ramp metering, dynamic lane use, and dynamic speed limits. These strategies have historically required the installation of field equipment, such as Dynamic Message Signs (DMSs), to regulate traffic or advise drivers about speed limits. Due to the high cost of installing, maintaining, and operating such field equipment, ATM strategies have been deployed only at a limited number of locations. However, the emergence of Connected Vehicle (CV) technology offers new ways to achieve dynamic traffic control at a fraction of cost required for traditional ATM deployments.

• Record URL:
  http://ntc.umd.edu/node/164

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Completed
• Funding: $146046
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT13-G-UTC30

• Sponsor Organizations:

  University of Maryland, College Park

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  College Park, MD  United States  20742
• Project Managers:

  Zhang, Lei

• Performing Organizations:

  Old Dominion University

  Norfolk, VA  United States  23529

  North Carolina State University, Raleigh

  Institute for Transportation Research and Education
  Campus Box 8601
  Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-8601
• Principal Investigators:

  Cetin, Mecit

  List, George

• Start Date: 20160101
• Expected Completion Date: 20161231
• Actual Completion Date: 20161231

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bottlenecks; Costs; Freeways; Highway traffic control; Managed lanes; Mobile communication systems; Ramp metering; Variable speed limits
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01590610
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Transportation Center @ Maryland, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT)
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC30
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Feb 18 2016 9:06PM