Fundamental diagram in traffic flow of mixed vehicles on multi-lane highway

Abstract

We study the fundamental diagram for traffic flow of vehicular mixture on a multi-lane highway. We present the car-following model of multi-lane traffic in which slow and fast vehicles flow with changing lanes. We investigate the traffic states of the vehicular mixture under the periodic boundary. Two values of the current appear at a density and two current curves are obtained. Vehicles move with changing lanes in the traffic state of high current, while vehicles move without changing lanes in the traffic state of low current. They depend on the density, the fraction of slow vehicles, and the initial condition. In the high-current curve, the jamming transition between the free flow and the jammed state occurs at a low density. The fundamental diagrams (current–density diagrams) are shown for the single-lane, two-lane, three-lane, and four-lane traffics.