On-Ramp Metering Based on Three-Phase Traffic Theory Downstream Off-Ramp and Upstream On-Ramp Bottlenecks

An ANCONA method is suggested for control of congestion at an off-ramp bottleneck through the use of feedback on-ramp metering at an upstream on-ramp bottleneck. The method is based on a recent ANCONA method for feedback on-ramp metering at an isolated on-ramp bottleneck, which allows congestion to set in at the bottleneck. With the use of the Kerner-Klenov traffic flow model in the context of three-phase traffic theory, simulations of ANCONA for a section of highway with downstream off-ramp and upstream on-ramp bottlenecks are made. It was found that if a wide moving jam occurs spontaneously within synchronized flow, then through the use of ANCONA, emergence of a wide moving jam can be prevented. As a result, a congested pattern at the off-ramp bottleneck, which consists of synchronized flow of higher speed (about or higher than 60 km/h) only, is spatially limited, that is, congestion does not propagate continuously upstream.