ABSTRACT
Nowadays, alongside the traditional statistical and semi-probabilistic methods, through which it is possible to obtain an estimate of the road network performances whatever its geometric-functional configuration, the use of microscopic traffic simulation techniques is widespread, allowing a "dynamic"approach to the problem (e.g. evaluation of infrastructural interventions, traffic management, etc.). The traffic micro-simulation models are able to analyze and process, instant by instant, the movement of single vehicles on the network, on the basis of laws related to the vehicle movement and the driving behavior. Based on this premise, this study proposes an overview of traffic simulation models, with a focus on the advantages of microsimulation. In this direction, the paper presents an application to a real case study in the city of Catania (Italy), in order to evaluate the impact of different traffic regulation strategies in terms of level of service (LoS), road emissions and fuel consuption through scenario evaluations. First results demonstrates that traffic modeling and the implementation of microsimulation tools represent a valid support for the transport policies assessment, providing a basis for future research steps that will address the simulation of larger areas, through before and after analysis and the evaluation of different key performance indicators. © 2022 Author(s).
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 has significantly led to changes in the mobility needs and in user travel behavior, due to the measures adopted to reduce the spread of the virus. While on the one hand this has resulted in a reduction in the number of trips, on the other this has entailed an increase in the use of the private car, considered as the safest form of transportation in urban contexts. Thus, administrations and policy makers have to promote actions and strategies to encourage soft mobility (i.e. walking and cycling), viewed as solutions to reduce transport emissions and ensure social distancing. This often implies the need for a redesign of urban spaces as pedestrians experience uncomfortable or unsafe situations about the surrounding environment. Within this framework, the paper proposes a methodological framework to evaluate the interactions between pedestrians and vehicular traffic using a microsimulation approach. The analyzed case study concerns a road intersection within the S. Benedetto neighbourhood in Cagliari (Italy). A scenario assessment has been performed through the computation of several performance indicators related both to private transport (i.e. level of service and emissions) and pedestrian users (i.e. density;speed and crossing time). The comparative analysis of results demonstrates that this research approach could represent a flexible and effective tool in guiding administrations through the decision-making process during the planning and development of projects for redevelopment of urban spaces and the promotion of soft mobility. Further research will focus on an extended study area, by modelling the behaviour of different categories of pedestrians and introducing in-field data. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
Studying the impact of AVs on our road infrastructure offers a lot of potential in the transportation domain;one of these issues is how capacity will be affected. This paper presents a contribution to this research area by investigating the impact of AVs on the capacity of single-lane roundabouts using a microsimulation model. For the development of the model, a roundabout situated in Győr (Hungary) was selected and field data on the roundabout geometric characteristics as well as traffic volumes were used. Simulations using Vissim were run for various scenarios based on varying input traffic volumes and market penetration rates of AVs to assess queue lengths. The highway capacity manual (HCM) roundabout model was used to estimate the capacity of the existing roundabout. Values of follow-up times and critical gaps were set to decreasing as the penetration rate of AVs increases. The results demonstrated that 20% and 40% AVs in the flow would increase leg capacities by about 10% and 20%, respectively. Furthermore, a reduction in excessive queue lengths was estimated and capacities and queue lengths were calculated by legs. It was found that these are highly influenced by the distribution of flows among legs, and the share of flows in various directions.
ABSTRACT
As India is in its developing stage and the traffic on the other side in India is very heterogeneous or mixed in its nature and the average growth rate of vehicles in India is about 8%. With the increase rate of urbanization in India it will lead to the considerable traffic and travel growth on the roads which will result in vehicular delays, long queues and traffic congestion. So, in this paper with the help of traffic simulation software, i.e. VISSIM, three simulation of an unsignalized intersection {Dadour and Una-Jahu, Nerchowk Rd. (NH-21),H.P} will be analyzed and will compare them on the basis of vehicular delays and long queues. These three simulation will be analyzed on the basis of real world traffic data which is less from the expectations due to the pandemic covid-19, theoretical traffic data (increase in real data by 30%) and theoretical traffic data {with traffic signals as theoretical data follows warrant 1 (Min. Vehicular Volume) shown in IRC:93:1985}. Result showed that with increase in vehicular data there was not so much variation in vehicular delays, whereas there was an increase in long queues or queue stops and whilst third simulation (with traffic lights) is done it shows that it overcomes the queue stops of the intersection. © 2022, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.