Developing the Simulation Module of Traffic Operations in Vicinity of Speed Bumps on Highways in VISSIM

The speed bump is an important speed control device which has been extensively used to reduce vehicle speeds or speeding on local streets. However, few traffic simulation packages provide the modules for such speed control devices. The primary objective of this study is to develop a VISSIM module for simulation of traffic operations on highway segments in the vicinity of speed bumps. A Reduced Speed Area (RSA) was created in the VISSIM module to approximately simulate drivers' behavior in vicinity of speed bumps in the real world. To achieve the research objective, vehicle speed data were collected at 15 different locations in vicinity of a speed bump on Wenlan Road in the Nanjing area. Genetic algorithm was used for calibration and validation procedure of the RSA module. It was found that the calibrated VISSIM module provided reasonable simulation of speed reduction effects of speed bumps on multilane highways.