Observing freeway ramp merging phenomena in congested traffic

This paper describes a comprehensive investigation of traffic behavior and characteristics during freeway ramp merging under congested traffic conditions. On the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway (TME), traffic congestion often occurs at merging bottleneck sections, especially during heavy traffic demand. The TME public corporation usually applies different empirical strategies to increase the flow rate and decrease the accident rate at merging sections. However, these strategies do not rely either on any behavioral characteristics of the merging traffic or on the geometric design of the merging segments. There have been only a few research publications concerned with traffic behavior and characteristics in these situations. Therefore, a 3-year study was conducted to study traffic behavior/characteristics during the merging process under congested situations. Extensive traffic data capturing a wide range of traffic and geometric information was collected using detectors, videotaping, and surveys at 8 interchanges on the TME. Maximum discharged flow rate from the head of the queue at merging sections in conjunction with traffic and geometric characteristics was analyzed. In addition, lane changing maneuvers with respect to freeway and ramp traffic behaviors were examined. It is believed that this study provides a thorough understanding of freeway ramp merging dynamics. It also forms a comprehensive database for the development and implementation of congestion management techniques at merging sections utilizing Intelligent Transportation Systems.

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