Modeling the Impacts of Traffic Flow Arrival Profiles on Ramp Metering Queues

An adequate queue storage length is critical for a metered on-ramp to prevent ramp queue spillback to the upstream signalized intersection. Previous research on queue length estimation or queue storage length design at metered ramps has not taken into account the potential impact of various on-ramp traffic flow arrival profiles on ramp queue lengths. This paper depicts the traffic flow arrival profiles and queue generation processes at three different metered ramp categories. Based on a large number of microscopic simulation runs, it is found that, under a given demand-to-capacity scenario, the queue at a metered ramp with two on-ramp feeding movements is more likely to be cleared in a cycle than at a metered ramp with three on-ramp feeding movements. Also, the platoon dispersion effect significantly reduces the ramp queue length, and hence the queue storage needs at a metered ramp. In addition, this paper reveals that ramp queue length tends to increase linearly with upstream signal cycle length. The design of queue storage length for a metered on-ramp hence needs to fully consider the various ramp configurations and upstream signal timing settings.