Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities

Trip travel time reliability is an important measure of transportation system performance and a key factor affecting travelers’ choices. This paper explores a method for estimating travel time distributions for corridors that contain multiple bottlenecks. A set of analytical equations are used to ca...

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Main Authors: Hao Lei, Xuesong Zhou, George F. List, Jeffrey Taylor
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2015-12-01
Series:Cogent Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2014.990672
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author Hao Lei
Xuesong Zhou
George F. List
Jeffrey Taylor
author_facet Hao Lei
Xuesong Zhou
George F. List
Jeffrey Taylor
author_sort Hao Lei
collection DOAJ
description Trip travel time reliability is an important measure of transportation system performance and a key factor affecting travelers’ choices. This paper explores a method for estimating travel time distributions for corridors that contain multiple bottlenecks. A set of analytical equations are used to calculate the number of queued vehicles ahead of a probe vehicle and further capture many important factors affecting travel times: the prevailing congestion level, queue discharge rates at the bottlenecks, and flow rates associated with merges and diverges. Based on multiple random scenarios and a vector of arrival times, the lane-by-lane delay at each bottleneck along the corridor is recursively estimated to produce a route-level travel time distribution. The model incorporates stochastic variations of bottleneck capacity and demand and explains the travel time correlations between sequential links. Its data needs are the entering and exiting flow rates and a sense of the lane-by-lane distribution of traffic at each bottleneck. A detailed vehicle trajectory data-set from the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) project has been used to verify that the estimated distributions are valid, and the sources of estimation error are examined.
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spelling doaj.art-5bc66e848e5540faaa1aeedd607573d42023-09-02T22:47:00ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Engineering2331-19162015-12-012110.1080/23311916.2014.990672990672Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacitiesHao Lei0Xuesong Zhou1George F. List2Jeffrey Taylor3University of UtahArizona State UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityUniversity of UtahTrip travel time reliability is an important measure of transportation system performance and a key factor affecting travelers’ choices. This paper explores a method for estimating travel time distributions for corridors that contain multiple bottlenecks. A set of analytical equations are used to calculate the number of queued vehicles ahead of a probe vehicle and further capture many important factors affecting travel times: the prevailing congestion level, queue discharge rates at the bottlenecks, and flow rates associated with merges and diverges. Based on multiple random scenarios and a vector of arrival times, the lane-by-lane delay at each bottleneck along the corridor is recursively estimated to produce a route-level travel time distribution. The model incorporates stochastic variations of bottleneck capacity and demand and explains the travel time correlations between sequential links. Its data needs are the entering and exiting flow rates and a sense of the lane-by-lane distribution of traffic at each bottleneck. A detailed vehicle trajectory data-set from the Next Generation SIMulation (NGSIM) project has been used to verify that the estimated distributions are valid, and the sources of estimation error are examined.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2014.990672travel time reliabilitystochastic capacitystochastic demandqueue model
spellingShingle Hao Lei
Xuesong Zhou
George F. List
Jeffrey Taylor
Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
Cogent Engineering
travel time reliability
stochastic capacity
stochastic demand
queue model
title Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
title_full Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
title_fullStr Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
title_full_unstemmed Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
title_short Characterizing corridor-level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
title_sort characterizing corridor level travel time distributions based on stochastic flows and segment capacities
topic travel time reliability
stochastic capacity
stochastic demand
queue model
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311916.2014.990672
work_keys_str_mv AT haolei characterizingcorridorleveltraveltimedistributionsbasedonstochasticflowsandsegmentcapacities
AT xuesongzhou characterizingcorridorleveltraveltimedistributionsbasedonstochasticflowsandsegmentcapacities
AT georgeflist characterizingcorridorleveltraveltimedistributionsbasedonstochasticflowsandsegmentcapacities
AT jeffreytaylor characterizingcorridorleveltraveltimedistributionsbasedonstochasticflowsandsegmentcapacities