Traffic flow fundamentals

The purpose of this textbook is to provide an in-depth treatment of the fundamentals of traffic flow. Chapter 1 provides an introduction. Chapter 2, devoted to microscopic flow characteristics, is concerned with individual time headways between vehicles, with particular emphasis on mean values and distribution forms. The chapter presents empirical measurements, describes pertinent mathematical distributions, suggests evaluation procedures, and provides selected applications. Chapter 3 is concerned with macroscopic flow characteristics, which are expressed as flow rates, and attention is given to temporal, spatial, and modal patterns. Empirical evidence is provided, analytical techniques are described, and applications are presented. Chapter 4 describes microscopic speed characteristics of individual vehicles passing a point or short segment during a specified time period. Particular attention is given to vehicular speed trajectories over time and space as well as to statistical analysis of individual speed measurements. Chapter 5 is directed to macroscopic speed characteristics, which are concerned with the speed of groups of vehicles passing a point or short segment during a specified period. Particular attention is given to temporal, spatial, and modal variations as well as to statistical analysis of group speed measurements. Travel time and delay techniques are also included. Chapter 6 is devoted to microscopic density characteristics, which are concerned with individual distance headways between vehicles, with particular emphasis on minimum and average values. The chapter includes an extensive coverage of car-following theories and automatic data collection systems. Chapter 7 is concerned with macroscopic density characteristics, which are expressed as the number of vehicles occupying a section of roadway. Density measurement techniques are described and particular attention is given to density contour maps. Analytical techniques using density contour maps are described. The remaining portion of the book, Chapters 8 through 13, is devoted to analytical techniques involving the total traffic flow situation; chapter subjects are, respectively, demand-supply analysis, capacity analysis, traffic stream models, shock wave analysis, queueing analysis, and computer simulation models. An index is provided.