Citation

Kim K, Cassidy MJ. Transp. Res. B Methodol. 2012; 46(9): 1260-1272.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.trb.2012.06.002

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

A reason is unveiled for the time-varying pattern in discharge flow that is commonly observed at freeway bottlenecks. We hypothesize that four known effects in freeway traffic can interact upstream of a bottleneck in ways that trigger periodic bursts in its discharge flow. Repeated observations of a 3-km freeway stretch support the hypothesis. Controlled experiments show that the capacity-increasing mechanism can be favorably modulated by metering the site's on-ramps in an unconventional manner. The unconventional strategy repeatedly produced higher average discharge flows and shorter on-ramp queues than did a more traditional metering policy.