The Importance Of Simulation Techniques In Its Research And Analysis

Traffic congestion has historically been regarded as a problem confined to major metropolitan areas. Over the years, the traffic problems that existed in densely developed urban areas began creeping into the suburbs as the work force migrated away from the traditional center city work pattern. Modem business operates at a feverish pace and is more mobile in nature, automobile technology advances have allowed more people to drive, and the commuting public has caused traffic congestion problems to appear even in small towns. Simply adding pavement to mitigate the traffic problems is neither adequate nor feasible. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) initiative was invoked by congress in 1991 to advance our traffic control systems by fostering development of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS). These technologies are designed to help move the motoring public more efficiently over the existing transportation system. Computer simulation has proved to be a vital adjunct to traditional traffic engineering analysis methods in hl ly understanding the dynamics of traffic movement and control operations,. These simulation tools are critical in the development and evaluation of these new ideas, algorithms, and traffic control systems. This paper presents three case studies illustrating the importance and positive impacts of traffic simulation techniques. 1 APPLYING SIMULATION TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS Importance: It is not uncommon for a roadway corridor to experience increasing traffic congestion and operational problems, due to rapid growth in traffic volumes associated with major land use development. This increase in traffic volumes, coupled with often short distances between intersectionslinterchanges, heavy turning movements, numerous onloff ramps or driveway locations, and increased cross street traffic demand, requires the transportation professional to Gene Daigle Kaman Sciences Corporation 1500 Garden of the Gods Road Colorado Springs, Colorado 80907, U.S.A. adopt a “systems analysis” approach to properly address traffic congestion. In doing so, the impacts of potential design and traffic control improvements along the roadway corridor can be better evaluated. Excessive traffic demand along a corridor more often than not results in traffic congestion due to effects of overlapping bottleneck locations. The spillover effect of traffic congestion from one location to another negates the use of conventional traffic engineering measures of effectiveness such as roadway capacity or levels of service analysis techniques. Traditional capacity analysis methods can provide levels of service estimates at a given point in space and time, but these methods do not provide an assessment of the impacts on the rest of the roadway corridor. As a result, the effects of one bottleneck location on another location are not recognized. The state-of-the-art method for evaluating the effects of overlapping traffic congestion problems is traffic simulation modeling. Computer traffic simulation models are valuable traffic engineering analytical tools. These models have the capability of evaluating detailed traffic performance at interchangeslintersections, along highwaylarterials, or even large transportation networks. They provide the most detailed objective operational analysis technique available for evaluating design and traffic control features. Traffic simulation models play a vital role in allowing the transportation engineer to evaluate complex traffic situations that cannot be analyzed directly with other means. The models afford the opportunity to evaluate traffic control and design strategies without committing expensive, timeconsuming resources necessary to implement the alternative strategies in the field. For this reason, the simulation models allow the engineer to analyze many alternatives quickly and avoid the risk, expense and disruption associated with extensive field experimentation. As described above, the computer simulation models can help the practicing transportation engineer