Traffic Management

Simon Cohen, George Yannis

• Publisher: Wiley-ISTE
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781119307815
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Civil Engineering
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Transport systems are facing an impossible dilemma: satisfy an increasing demand for mobility of people and goods, while decreasing their fossil-energy requirements and preserving the environment. Additionally, transport has an opportunity to evolve in a changing world, with new services, technologies but also new requirements (fast delivery, reliability, improved accessibility).

The subject of traffic is organized into two separate but complementary volumes: Volume 3 on Traffic Management and Volume 4 on Traffic Safety.

Traffic Management, Volume 3 of the 'Research for Innovative Transports' Set, presents a collection of updated papers from the TRA 2014 Conference, highlighting the diversity of research in this field. Theoretical chapters and practical case studies address topics such as cooperative systems, the global approach in modeling, road and railway traffic management, information systems and impact assessment.

Introduction

Advances in telecommunications and information technologies are changing the practices used in both everyday life and in professional life. The transport world, sensitive to innovation, does not escape to this movement.

Our daily environment demonstrates successful mutations. New equipment is deployed along the roads or on board vehicles. Variable message signs display real-time travel times. Cameras detect incidents and trigger alerts. Information terminals provide service schedules and waiting times for buses or trains. Other technologies facilitate the management of daily travel, making it more reliable, safer and more comfortable.

These developments highlight various aspects of advanced traffic management as well as transport safety. Behind, there is transport research. Its role is to imagine, assess and support the emergence of new approaches and innovative systems. Multi-disciplinary by essence, transport research is well adapted to deal with these issues. This is the purpose of this volume, resulting from the international TRA2014

Conference, held in Paris in April 2014. The Conference was organized under the sign of the transition from research to deployment in transport solutions.

The topic of traffic is organized into two separate but complementary volumes, Volume 3 on Traffic Management and Volume 4 on Traffic Safety, both presenting a selection of chapters in the aforementioned fields. As a major event on transport in Europe, the Conference covered a broad range of issues linked to Traffic Management and Safety. Naturally, the shortlist presented here does not cover the wide spectrum of these area. It aims to highlight its diversity through a choice of updated papers from the Conference. Selection is primarily based on a quality criterion, taking also into account the geographical diversity of papers in order to restore the originality and richness of the current research.

I.1. Main findings

The selected 23 chapters included in this volume on traffic management demonstrate how technological innovations as well as new methodologies applied to traffic management can modify usual practices, and offer efficient solutions to the ongoing challenges of increasing congestion, environmental issues and economical constraints. Both theoretical papers and practical case studies explore topics such as data collection, modelling, traffic operations, information and assessment.

The quality of traffic management is strongly dependent on the availability of reliable and accurate data. But what are good practices in data collection? Surveys can help to outline the best practices among existing systems and identify possible areas for improvement. How can managers prepare for the evolution towards a new generation of sensors while taking into account the contributions of cooperative systems? These questions concern both the nature of data as well as the system architecture. These are themes discussed during the conference and reported in this volume.

Many lessons are provided to traffic managers from practical case studies. In this regard, the recent concept of living laboratory (living lab), as a large-scale sensor network, is becoming more and more popular. In the last few years, living labs have been expanding. They enable in situ experimentation and stimulate activities in sensor technology, data collection, innovative services and products. In living labs, stakeholders such as public, private, research institutions, industry, and especially users, closely collaborate in an open-innovation process. A large amount of open data become available and enables a better insight into what happens on the network. The involvement of users is increased. Finally, living labs lead to the development of better adapted innovations at a lower cost, for all the different stakeholders.

Traffic modeling is at the heart of planning issues and projects assessment. Several of the innovations illustrated in some papers concern the traditional four steps process. In the field of modeling, the Conference reveals a more important use of comprehensive approaches. The objectives and criteria become multiple and simultaneously concern the issues of efficiency, safety and environmental aspects. Sustainability becomes a key theme. Multimodality issues are discussed frequently. Management becomes integrated and juxtaposes the stages of operation and decision. Several categories are taken into account, such as transport operators, users and institutions.

Different case studies in railway and road traffic management illustrate these trends.

Information tools play a fundamental role in network management. Before a journey, they influence the route choice, the departure times and, to a lesser extent, the modal choice. Traveler information systems are more and more becoming real time, interoperable, multimodal, regional and even transnational.

Assessment should provide answers to the new questions arising. For example, what are the impacts of cooperative systems? What are the comparative performances of classical and innovative systems? How to introduce the social costs of congestion of rail networks and therefore improve cost-benefit analysis? Impact assessment as described in several case studies facilitates the decision of the different stakeholders.

This third volume extracted from the TRA Conference 2014 will interest both the research community and higher education, professionals in the management of road and rail traffic, economic and institutional decision-makers increasingly require new forms of network management. They will find both state of the art of some key issues, chapters on some methods and illustrative case studies.

The presentation of Traffic Management is split into five parts. It begins with data collection, continues with modeling, describes some traffic operations and information systems and ends with evaluation.

Part 1 considers both classic and innovative data collection systems. The reader, especially the traffic manager, will find descriptions of best practices as well as the potential of some advanced technologies. Issues on cooperative ITS architectures are also discussed. The living lab in the Dutch City of Assen shows how it contributes to improve use cases.

In Part 2, researchers will be interested by theoretical innovations in the traditional four steps process: a new approach to trip generation, optimized intermodal roundtrips and an alternative assignment method.

Part 3 deals with traffic operations, congestion monitoring and routing. It will be of particular interest to professionals. Behavioral responses to daily traffic congestion are investigated, showing that marginal adjustments are preferred to alterations. Lane changing behavior is also analyzed under free flow and heavy traffic. Effects of variable speed limits are estimated while various dynamic route guidance algorithms are compared.

Part 4 lists first the influence of pre-trip information systems from a literature review. Concrete experiences of real time passenger information and multimodal traveler information are reported.

Finally, Part 5 focuses mainly on impact assessment. The impact of various cooperative systems on safety, traffic efficiency and environment are reported. The conclusion provides decision support for road authorities on future investments in the field. Performance of classic and innovative technologies for travel time calculation are compared in a pilot. The issue of the social cost of rail congestion is also addressed.

I.2. Conclusion

The chapters gathered in this volume provide an insight into research, best practices and transport policies with focus on state-of the-art advances in traffic management. They demonstrate the progress made in the various process of data collection, modelling, management, information and assessment, assisting academics, transport professionals, practitioners and decision makers to a better understanding of the current and future trends. The crucial and increasing role of ITS applications becomes evident and more frequently researchers and practitioners apply a universal approach and interdisciplinary methodologies to address transport related issues, including global approaches in modelling. Furthermore, special focus is given to the sustainability of presented solutions, with an emphasis onto optimized and sustainable traffic management, as well as new concepts such as living labs.

Introduction written by Simon COHEN and George YANNIS.

PART 1
Data Collection

1
A Review of Statewide Traffic Data Collection, Processing, Projection and Quality Control

Three of the most essential metrics of highway system operation are the volume, composition and weight of traffic using the roadway and street network. Agencies need timely and reliable traffic information to perform their varied duties in the areas of planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of roads. If the collected data are not current and accurate, decisions made by the agency may be delayed or incorrect. This study identifies appropriate measures to ensure that high-quality traffic data are collected, processed, analyzed and reported in an optimal and cost-effective way by the New Mexico Department of Transportation. This is achieved through an in-depth review of the Department’s current procedures, including interviews with individuals, both inside and outside of the agency, who have traffic data responsibilities. A survey of best practices in traffic data collection at the national level, as identified in the technical literature and an examination of programs in selected states was also undertaken.

1.1. Introduction

One of the most essential metrics of highway system operation is the volume of traffic using the roadway and street network. The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) needs timely and reliable traffic volume information to perform its varied duties in the areas of planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of roads. If volume data collected by the NMDOT and others are not current, the decisions made by the departme...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Title
• Copyright
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• PART 1: Data Collection
• PART 2: Traffic Modeling and Simulation
• PART 3: Traffic Management, Monitoring and Routing
• PART 4: Travel Information
• PART 5: Assessment and Impacts
• List of Authors
• Index
• End User License Agreement