Dealing with a multiple access congested suburban freeway using a dynamic toll pricing approach

Abstract

In this paper we resume a novel approach for alleviating traffic congestion in suburban freeways with multiple access locations through the use of dynamic toll pricing. The pricing strategy is determined using model-based feedback control, in combination with a traffic flow model and a driver behavior model. The case study is a suburban freeway segment with multiple access locations. A model derived from the cell transmission one was utilized to develop the traffic flow model, with past traffic information from on-road sensors utilized to derive the model parameters. The drivers’ decisions concerning the choice of whether or not to enter the freeway segment is modeled using utility theory and the Value of Time (VOT) relative to the toll value. The proposed toll-pricing scheme is tested with traffic data from Portuguese freeway A5 and with different assumptions on the drivers’ VOT distribution, showing a significant improvement of the overall traffic conditions. The algorithm illustrated here provides an opportunity to improve on existing toll policies, guaranteeing more stable traffic conditions for the freeway users and optimizing the overall traffic throughput.