Freeway corridor control in a day-to-day dynamic framework

Most traffic control and management schemes in the past attempted to address the immediate traffic conditions in the system, with no consideration of implications on evolution of the system performance. These schemes rarely considered the effect on system users nor the dynamics of demand patterns induced by the users' responses to the strategies. This research addresses the development and analysis of control strategies for a freeway corridor system in a commuting context with consideration of commuter response to system performance.;Traffic management strategies are developed for freeway operations during peak traffic hours, when a significant portion of the demand consists of commuters traveling to and from work. The goals of the traffic management strategies are to provide for efficient traffic movement on the freeway as well as allow commuters to arrive at a satisfactory schedule for their daily trip to work. The focus is on two specific approaches to improve freeway operations, namely: (a) using traffic responsive ramp metering to prevent congestion and, (b) providing motorist with system optimal information to reduce total trip times.;A theoretical perspective of how traffic responsive ramp metering can prevent congestion is provided by using standard macroscopic relationships between the speed, flow and density of traffic. The theoretical analysis is extended to evaluate three specific local feedback traffic responsive ramp metering strategies.;The information strategy involves providing commuter-specific route and departure time directives to optimize system performance. A Linear Programming formulation is discussed to obtain the necessary information based on commuters' work-arrival-time preferences.;In order to study the interaction between traffic management strategies and commuter decision-making a simulation framework, DDTSM, is developed. DDTSM incorporates a traffic simulator for the movement and the interaction of vehicles along one or more parallel freeways in a corridor, and a behavioral module for commuter decision-making in response to system performance.;Numerical experiments are conducted using DDTSM to explore the properties of the traffic responsive ramp metering and information strategies, and their interaction with commuter decision-making to influence day-to-day and long term system performance.