TITLE:
An Analysis on Efficiency and Equity of Fixed-Time Ramp Metering
AUTHORS:
Ali Sercan Kesten, Murat Ergün, Tetsuo Yai
KEYWORDS:
Traffic Control Strategies; Traffic Flow Micro-simulation; Equity in Traffic Control; Efficiency and Equity Trade-Off
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Transportation Technologies,
Vol.3 No.2A,
May
24,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Various traffic management strategies have been developed to alleviate the congestion on freeways. The equity issue has been considered as one of the major challenges for the implementation of some traffic control strategies, especially ramp metering. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of the efficiency and equity performance of a traffic control strategies namely Fixed Time Ramp Metering (FTRM). Instead of focusing on a single equity measure and/or indicator, different approaches to the equity concept are discussed and various equity measures are examined. The equity and efficiency performance of traffic control strategies are compared and evaluated by incorporating them into the simulated corridor. The Bosporus Bridge of Istanbul O-1 Freeway, Turkey is used as a test-bed for the simulation model and the control strategy is employed through microscopic traffic flow simulation software, VISSIM AG. The findings from the simulations show that the equity and efficiency properties of the network vary with the measures and indicators taken into account. The results also suggest that the trade-off between equity and efficiency can be observed for some measures, whereas regarding to other measures the trade-off is not validated.