Citation

Rørbech J. Transp. Res. Rec. 1976; 596: 22-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1976, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

his paper presents a queue-theoretical model for describing traffic flow on a dual two-lane motorway. The model is based on the theory of stationary Markov processes and is closely related to data collection methods made possible by specially developed recording equipment. The model is based on a description of the driver's behavior in traffic. The individual driver alternates between driving under free-flow conditions (state F) at his or her desired speed and without delay and driving in a queue (state K) with consequent delay. To escape from or possible entirely avoid a queue, a driver must change lanes (alternate between lane 1 and lane 2). The behavior of the driver is thus described by a variable that assumes the discrete values 1F, 2F, and 2K. This process can be described as a Markov process. The reactions of individual drivers are summed up in a comprehensive description of the average driver's behavior, so that the road traffic model developed is an example of a macrostochastic model. A technique has been developed by which the parameters in the Markov process can be estimated from the collected data, and the paper describes how the model becomes part of a detailed investigation into the vital conditions affecting motorway traffic, e.g. capacity, relationship between speed and traffic volume, and the drivers' use of the motorway.