Multi-Stage Fuzzy Logic Controller for Expressway Traffic Control During Incidents

In this research study, a multistage fuzzy logic controller (MS-FLC) was developed for traffic control in incident management on expressways. The MS-FLC serves as the traffic operator’s decision-making support tool at the operational level. The MS-FLC gathers real-time traffic and incident data to analyze and predict traffic conditions, as well as to recommend alternative control measures to the traffic operator in the form of linguistic expressions. The MS-FLC is embedded in a traffic simulator controller (TSC) prototype, and was evaluated by comparing its performance with no control scenario and ALINEA\Q, a popular local ramp control algorithm, across several incident scenarios in a simulation environment. In general, MS-FLC outperformed ALINEA\Q with respect to global objectives. In particular, whereas the ALINEA\Q algorithm favors the mainline, the MS-FLC algorithm significantly improves mainline travel conditions while substantially reducing ramp queues. It is concluded that, if properly designed, the MS-FLC can be a robust tool for traffic control on expressways under incident conditions

Computational Intelligence in Highway Management: A Review

Highway management systems are used to improve safety and driving comfort on highways by using control strategies and providing information and warnings to drivers. They use several strategies starting from speed and lane management, through incident detection and warning systems, ramp metering, weather information up to, for example, informing drivers about alternative roads. This paper provides a review of the existing approaches to highway management systems, particularly speed harmonization and ramp metering. It is focused only on modern and advanced approaches, such as soft computing, multi-agent methods and their interconnection. Its objective is to provide guidance in the wide field of highway management and to point out the most relevant recent activities which demonstrate that development in the field of highway management is still important and that the existing research exhibits potential for further enhancement

The use of real-time connected vehicles and HERE data in developing an automated freeway incident detection algorithm

Traffic incidents cause severe problems on roadways. About 6.3 million highway crashes are reported annually only in the United States, among which more than 32,000 are fatal crashes. Reducing the risk of traffic incidents is key to effective traffic incident management (TIM). Quick detection of unexpected traffic incidents on roadways contribute to quick clearance and hence improve safety. Existing techniques for the detection of freeway incidents are not reliable. This study focuses on exploring the potential of emerging connected vehicles (CV) technology in automated freeway incident detection in the mixed traffic environment. The study aims at developing an automated freeway incident detection algorithm that will take advantage of the CV technology in providing fast and reliable incident detection. Lee Roy Selmon Expressway was chosen for this study because of the THEA CV data availability. The findings of the study show that emerging CV technology generates data that are useful for automated freeway incident detection, although the market penetration rate was low (6.46%). The algorithm performance in terms of detection rate (DR) and false alarm rate (FAR) indicated that CV data resulted into 31.71% DR and zero FAR while HERE yielded a 70.95% DR and 9.02% FAR. Based on Pearson’s correlation analysis, the incidents detected by the CV data were found to be similar to the ones detected by the HERE data. The statistical comparison by ANOVA shows that there is a difference in the algorithm’s detection time when using CV data and HERE data. 17.07% of all incidents were detected quicker when using CV data compared to HERE data, while 7.32% were detected quicker when using HERE data compared to CV data

Developing a fuzzy-based decision-making procedure for traffic control in expressway congestion management

This paper presents part of a multi-stage fuzzy logic controller (MS-FLC) that is developed for traffic control in congestion management on expressways. The decision-making process of traffic control for expressway congestion management using the MS-FLC consists of three tasks: (1) evaluation of current traffic congestion; (2) prediction of traffic congestion tendency; and (3) recommendation of control strategies and control actions to alleviate the congestion. This paper presents the 3rd stage of the MS-FLC that develops a fuzzy-based decision-making procedure (FDMP) for management of recurring and non-recurring congestion. Using fuzzy rules, the FDMP evaluates the current and anticipated traffic data and incident information to recommend control strategies at the strategic level, and control actions at the operational level. Results from this research show that: (i) the FDMP offers a comprehensive procedure in deriving control strategies and actions; (ii) FDMP control actions are derived from a systematic decision-making logic where the design of control rules is consistently oriented toward achieving desirable control objectives; (iii) the FDMP targets a proper balance in congestion management between the mainline and the ramp using compromise rule design; (iv) the FDMP facilitates using various forms of available traffic and incident data on an extended expressway segment to derive at control actions, making the system-wide gains possible; and (v) the FDMP could be applied for management of both recurring and non-recurring congestion.</p

Camden County Highway Plan

The Camden County Highway Plan was prepared as an element to the update of the overall Camden County Master Plan. The Highway Plan sets the direction for highway infrastructure -- and particularly its own county route network -- to keep pace with changes expected by 2040. The Master Plan provides the authority for managing the change that will come. Seven significant physical/operational mobility improvement projects, totaling $78 million, were identified along the county route network as specific recommendations to the overall county Master Plan. Of these -- the proposed county-wide interconnected and coordinated traffic signal system ($30 million) is the smartest and farthest reaching. The project was conducted alongside the development of the Land Use Plan element and integrated findings from the Bicycling & Multi-Use Trails Plan and Farmland Preservation Plan elements. The project also delivered a linked GIS-asset management database including updated inventories of county roads, bridges, and traffic signals, and relevant outputs from the planning study

Regional Data Archiving and Management for Northeast Illinois

This project studies the feasibility and implementation options for establishing a regional data archiving system to help monitor and manage traffic operations and planning for the northeastern Illinois region. It aims to provide a clear guidance to the regional transportation agencies, from both technical and business perspectives, about building such a comprehensive transportation information system. Several implementation alternatives are identified and analyzed. This research is carried out in three phases. In the first phase, existing documents related to ITS deployments in the broader Chicago area are summarized, and a thorough review is conducted of similar systems across the country. Various stakeholders are interviewed to collect information on all data elements that they store, including the format, system, and granularity. Their perception of a data archive system, such as potential benefits and costs, is also surveyed. In the second phase, a conceptual design of the database is developed. This conceptual design includes system architecture, functional modules, user interfaces, and examples of usage. In the last phase, the possible business models for the archive system to sustain itself are reviewed. We estimate initial capital and recurring operational/maintenance costs for the system based on realistic information on the hardware, software, labor, and resource requirements. We also identify possible revenue opportunities. A few implementation options for the archive system are summarized in this report; namely: 1. System hosted by a partnering agency 2. System contracted to a university 3. System contracted to a national laboratory 4. System outsourced to a service provider The costs, advantages and disadvantages for each of these recommended options are also provided.ICT-R27-22published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe

Transportation Operations Master Plan

This document outlines a long-range vision of transportation operations for the DVRPC region. It presents transportation operations goals, objectives, and operational strategies to achieve them. An operations vision establishes a plan of where ITS infrastructure, emergency service patrols, and incident management task forces, should be deployed in the region. A series of plans and programs are identified to accomplish the regional goals and vision. Lastly, a financial analysis was conducted to estimate the costs to construct, operate, and maintain these projects

The Congestion Evolution of Jingzang Expressway and the Analysis on Participants’ Behavior

Road transportation networks are experiencing ever growing recurrent congestion and non-recurrent in developing China, which is a concurrent event. This paper takes Jingzang Expressway(G6) as an example, describes the saturation flow along the G6 compared with its designed capacity by the actual volume of each segment according to the density and structural characteristics of cars and trucks, and presents the congestion evolution in the past three years. Then provide inharmonious surveillance analysis among regions along this highway and game behavior between administers and carriers based on cost analysis. Finally, we point out that congestion is not only the road itself problems but also a social system problem, which should be transformed in the long term. Now we can apply some Intelligent Transport System to mitigate congestion