Modelling freeway systems: a new traffic fundamental diagram

Abstract

The problem of modelling nonhomogeneous traffic flow is dealt with in this paper. The proposed model is based on a classical macroscopic model, but presents the novelty of being able to describe the behaviour of different classes of vehicles. In particular, the attention is focused on the definition of a new traffic fundamental diagram, in order to correctly account for the interferences among the classes of vehicles. Such aspects related to the specification of the resulting multiclass model as the identification of its parameters and its validation are treated in some detail.