Stochastic Traffic Congestion Evaluation of Korean Highway Traffic Information System with Structural Changes

Abstract

The stochastic phenomena of traffic network condition, such as traffic speed and density, are affected not only by exogenous traffic control but also by endogenous changes in service time during congestion. In this paper, we propose a mixed M/G/1 queuing model by introducing a condition-varying parameter of traffic congestion to reflect structural changes in the traffic network. We also develop congestion indices to evaluate network efficiency in terms of traffic flow and economic cost in traffic operating system using structure-changing queuing model, and perform scenario analysis according to various traffic network improvement policies. Empirical analysis using Korean highway traffic operating system shows that our suggested model better captures structural changes in the traffic queue. The scenario analysis also shows that occasional reversible lane operation during peak times can be more efficient and feasible than regular lane extension in Korea.