Conflicts in multi-modal urban traffic systems: modeling congestion
© 2013 EPFL
As cities around the world grow rapidly and more people and modes compete for limited urban space to travel, there is a need to understand how this space is used for transportation and how it can be managed to improve accessibility.
Our research seeks to shed some light on the modeling, planning and management of traffic flow for overcrowded cities with multimodal transport. We develop methodologies to model and understand collective behavior for different types of multi-modal systems, with emphasis on conflicts for the same road space (e.g. mixed bus and car traffic or vehicles searching for parking). Ultimately, the goal is to develop optimization tools for distributing city road space to multiple modes and understanding the level of accessibility for cities of different structures. We also investigate what type of real-time active traffic management schemes (congestion pricing, vehicle restriction, largescale traffic-signal control) can improve mobility measures in a city. Until now, traffic control systems in urban areas have been locally programmed with little control over the impact of a micro-scale response to the macro-scale level. We build a hierarchical feedback control network of multiple levels. The validation of the modeling methodologies and the traffic management schemes will be conducted in various, complex city-structure scenarios using data from field experiments and advanced micro-simulations. This research is mainly supported by two SNF basic research grants.