Title: A generic work zone evaluation tool driven by a macroscopic traffic simulation model

Authors: Hongcheng Gan; June Wei; Gang Wang

Addresses: Business School, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China ' Department of Management and Management Information Systems, University of West Florida, Pensacola FL 32514, USA ' School of Management, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, China

Abstract: This study proposed a generic work zone evaluation tool driven by a dynamic macroscopic traffic model. The tool can investigate the effects of a work zone on freeway conditions. The classical freeway traffic network model METANET was extended to better capture typical work zone characteristics in terms of speed and capacity reductions through modifying its speed-density relationship functions. The tool can present profiles of traffic state variables, system-level performance indices, and annotated traffic conditions maps. It was used to develop a prototype computer-aided decision support system and applied in two simulation-based case studies. Case studies show that it is effective and useful for understanding complicated work zone impacts and can aid in better design and assessment of work zone plans. It can be integrated in a dynamic transportation management system for better communication between road operator and travellers.

Keywords: freeway work zone; evaluation; decision support systems; macroscopic traffic simulation; mobile communications.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2021.111884

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2021 Vol.19 No.1, pp.1 - 21

Received: 03 Feb 2019
Accepted: 19 Nov 2019
Published online: 18 Dec 2020 *

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