DEVELOPMENT OF A MICROSCOPIC TRAFFIC SIMULATION FOR DESIGN AND OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS OF TOLL STATIONS

Abstract

Highway toll stations constitute a unique type of transportation system that requires special analysis. Tolls are used as an instrument to finance new road infrastructure throughout the world and collection have become an industry of its own. Modeling toll stations for design, assessment, and traffic operational purposes is a very demanding task as a result of the drivers' complex lane selection behavior and their interaction with other factors such as payment options, queue lengths, and toll station configuration. The objective of this paper is to develop a microscopic traffic simulation model for design, assessment, and operational analysis of toll stations. The model incorporates the stochastic nature of traffic arrival, toll collection time, and driver decision making. The developed simulation model was used to analyze 750 different scenarios of traffic volumes, toll booth capacity, driver types, and configuration of toll station. Recommendations on number of toll booths are presented in order to process peak traffic hours without excessive delay times or long queues. Results showed that at traffic volume equals 2,000 vehicles per hours and more than 50% cash as the means of payment, the number of toll booths should be around 6 to 10. Whereas for traffic volume equals 4,000 vehicles per hours, the number of toll booths should be around 14 to 18.