Citation

Li Z, Liu P, Wang W, Xu C. IEEE Trans. Intel. Transp. Syst. 2014; 15(2): 866-877.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/TITS.2013.2293199

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper was to develop a control strategy of variable speed limits (VSLs) to reduce rear-end collision risks near freeway recurrent bottlenecks. The risks of rear-end collisions were estimated using a crash risk prediction model that is specifically developed for rear-end collisions in freeway bottleneck areas. The effects of the VSL control strategy were evaluated using a cell transmission model. Several control factors were tested, including the start-up threshold of the collision likelihood, the target speed limit, the speed change rate, and the speed difference between adjacent links. A genetic algorithm was used to optimize critical control factors. For the high demand scenario, the proposed control strategy used 25% of the maximum collision likelihood for the start-up threshold, 35 mi/h for the target speed limit, 10 mi/h per 30 s for the speed change rate, and 10 mi/h for the speed difference between different links. For the moderate demand scenario, the strategy used 20% of the maximum collision likelihood for the start-up threshold, 40 mi/h for the target speed limit, 15 mi/h per 30 s for the speed change rate, and 10 mi/h for the speed difference between different links. The results of comparative analyses suggested that the proposed control strategy outperformed other strategies in reducing the rear-end collision risks near freeway recurrent bottlenecks. With the proposed control strategy, the VSL control reduced the rear-end crash potential by 69.84% for the high demand scenario and by 81.81% for the moderate demand scenario. 2013 IEEE.

Language: en