TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2010//
TI  - Continuum approximation for congestion dynamics along freeway corridors
JO  - Transportation science
A1  - Laval, Jorge A.
A1  - Leclercq, Ludovic
SP  - 87
EP  - 97
VL  - 44
IS  - 1
N2  - In this paper, congestion dynamics along crowded freeway corridors are modeled as a conservation law with a source term that is continuous in space. The source term represents the net inflow from ramps, postulated here as a location-dependent function of the demand for entering and exiting the corridor. Demands are assumed to be time-independent, which is appropriate for understanding the onset of congestion. Numerical and analytical results reveal the existence of four well-defined regions in time-space, two of which are transient. The conditions for the existence of congestion both in the freeway and in the on-ramps are identified, as well as the set of on-ramps that are most likely to become active bottlenecks. The results in this paper help explain the stochastic nature of bottleneck activation, and can be applied to devise effective system-wide ramp metering strategies that would prevent excessively long on-ramp queues.<p /> <p>Language: en</p> 
LA  - en
SN  - 0041-1655
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/trsc.1090.0294
ID  - ref1
ER  -