Queue Discharge at Freeway On-Ramps Using Coordinated Operation of a Ramp Meter and an Upstream Traffic Signal

Ramp metering is an effective way of maintaining optimum traffic conditions and mitigating congestion on freeways. Several strategies for ramp metering exist in the literature. They are typically based on the freeway traffic parameters as control inputs to the ramp control logic. The ramp signal can be controlled in two ways, i.e., locally controlled (isolated ramp control) and coordinated ramp control. Coordinated ramp control refers to the ramp metering strategies in which several ramp meters connected to the freeway segment are dynamically controlled by considering traffic flows along all ramps. Coordinated ramp metering can play a vital role in freeway congestion mitigation on the ramps as well as normalize the traffic flow over the freeway. In this study, an alternate coordinated metering scheme that uses the state of the upstream traffic signal on arterial as the control input to the ramp meter is proposed. The proposed method aims to prevent long queues on the ramp with limited storage by taking feedback from the upstream traffic signal on the arterial, especially when the ramp has a small storage area for vehicles. Simulation results show a significant reduction in the queue length over the ramp using the proposed scheme. Additionally, the proposed scheme also benefits the arterial traffic.