01473529

Component

The HCM 2010 does not provide a methodology to assess Level-of-Service (LOS), density, and space mean speed for oversaturated freeway weaving segments. In its supplemental chapters it suggests use of either analytical tool called FREeway EVALuation (FREEVAL) or a commercial microsimulation software. This study evaluates ability of such tools to realistically generate density and speed on oversaturated freeway weaving segments. The study utilizes NGSIM data for an oversaturated weaving segment on a US 101 Hollywood Freeway in California to populate FREEVAL and VISSIM (a representative of commercial microsimulation software) models. Both models are calibrated, to the best possible extent, to replicate field data for the first two 15-minute intervals from NGSIM data set. The last 15-minute interval is used to assess ability of these tools to reproduce performance measures on an oversaturated freeway segment. Results show that FREEVAL is not able to accurately estimate both speed and density of oversaturated freeway weaving segment. On the other hand, the results showed that VISSIM microsimulation model can be successfully calibrated to replicate speed and density from the field but only after introducing a speed reduction areas to emulate effects of queue propagation from downstream (out of model) links.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB45 Traffic Flow Theory and Characteristics.

01470560

13-0484

English

16p

2013

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Traffic density; Traffic oversaturation; Traffic speed; Weaving sections

FREEVAL (Computer program); VISSIM (Computer model)

Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I71: Traffic Theory; I73: Traffic Control

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-0484

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Feb 5 2013 12:13PM