Hybrid Mesoscopic-Microscopic Traffic Simulation Model: Design, Implementation, and Computational Analysis

This paper is concerned with the design and implementation of a hybrid traffic simulation model that can provide a consistent and computationally efficient way in modeling traffic propagation on general networks. The proposed hybrid traffic simulation integrates a cell transmission model based mesoscopic traffic model with a control theory based microscopic traffic model into one framework. It can simulate large regional networks, while allowing capturing the evolution of queues at specified part of the network in great detail. The challenges of such integration are mostly related to the modeling of traffic propagation at the interface between the two incorporated models. These challenges are identified and discussed. The proposed hybrid traffic simulation is implemented and computationally tested in this study.