Appraisal of traffic stream friction

Abstract

This paper presents a simulation model to evaluate the quality of traffic flow. The evaluation is based on counts of the number of potential speed changes on a stretch of road and the estimated number of times a vehicle is limited in changing lanes. In order to describe the behaviour of the traffic flow process, two models were developed. One model describes vehicle arrival patterns on a road cross section; the other model, vehicle speeds. The stochastic process of speed is described as an autoregression process, whereas vehicle arrivals are presented as a Markovian process. Simulation results indicate an increase in traffic stream friction with an increase in vehicle-speed standard deviation and a reduction in average speed. The dependence of vehicle arrivals in adjacent lanes seems to increase the amount of friction in each lane. The simulation model developed enables a comparison of the quality of traffic flow at different sites, as well as a before-and-after study of any particular site.