Technical Support for Implementation of Freeway Network Simulation Software

Start date: 06/1998
Project Status: Completed
Research Area: Transportation Safety and Traffic Flow
Topics: Traffic Modeling and Data
Phased Project(s):

Principal Investigator:

Eil Kwon, Director, NATSRL, UMD-Civil Engineering

Co-Investigator:

Panos Michalopoulos, Professor, Civil Engineering

Project Summary:

Traffic simulation has long been recognized as the most effective tool in evaluating the effectiveness of various operational and design alternatives prior to implementation. Responding to this need, a research team at the University of Minnesota has been developing a personal computer-based, freeway simulation software, which has been designed to address the specific needs of the MnDOT freeway operations. While the current research effort is in the final phase and the final version of the software will include many desirable features that MnDOT needs, e.g., the traffic responsive ramp metering module that can simulate the MnDOT control algorithm, HOV lane simulation and multi-stage incident modules, the effective implementation of the software requires technical support/training for users and maintenance of the software with continuous debugging to correct the problems that are not found in the development stage. The proposed project is to maintain the simulation software and to provide the technical support to the MnDOT traffic engineers, so that it can be applied for daily traffic operations.