Skip to main content
Log in

Short-Term Prediction of Travel Time using Neural Networks on an Interurban Highway

  • Published:
Transportation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the predictability of travel time with a model based on travel time data measured in the field on an interurban highway. Another purpose was to determine whether the forecasts would be accurate enough to implement the model in an actual online travel time information service. The study was carried out on a 28-kilometre-long rural two-lane road section where traffic congestion was a problem during weekend peak hours. The section was equipped with an automatic travel time monitoring and information system. The prediction models were made as feedforward multilayer perceptron neural networks. The main results showed that the majority of the forecasts were close to the actual measured values. Consequently, use of the prediction model would improve the quality of travel time information based directly on the sum of the latest measured travel times.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Al-Deek H (2003) The impact of real-time and predictive traffic information on travelers’ behavior in the I-4 corridor. Final report, University of Central Florida. 117 p.

  • Chen M & Chien S (2001) Dynamic motorway travel time prediction using probe vehicle data: link-based vs. path-based. Transportation Research Record1768, Transportation Data and Information Technology, 157–161.

  • S Chien C Kuchipudi (2002) Dynamic travel time prediction with real-time and historical data Transportation Research Board Washington DC 26

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Angelo M, Al-Deek H & Wang M (1999) Travel time prediction for motorway corridors. Transportation Research Record 1676, Travel Behavior and Passenger Travel Demand Forecasting, 184–191.

  • Demuth H & Beale M (1998) Neural networks toolbox for use with Matlab. User’s Guide, Version 3. The Math Works Inc.: 5-1–5-58.

  • Finnra (2000) Vt 4 Lahti–Heinola matka-ajan seuranta- ja informaatiojärjestelmän toiminnan arviointi (Main road 4 Lahti–Heinola journey time monitoring and information system functional analysis). Finnra Reports 58/2000. Häme District of Finnish National Road Administration, Tampere. 46 p. + app. 61 p.

  • van Grol H, Danech-Pajouh M, Manfredi S & Whittaker J (1999a) DACCORD: Online travel time prediction. In: Meersman H, van de Voorde E & Winkelmans W (eds.) World Transport Research, Selected proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Transport Research, Vol 2: planning, operation, management and control, 455–467.

  • van Grol R, Lindveld K, Manfredi S & Danech-Pajouh M (1999b) DACCORD: Online travel time estimation/prediction results. Proceedings of 6th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), held Toronto, Canada, November 8–12, 1999. 12 p.

  • T Haugen (1996) Section Data. Possibilities and Experiences SINTEF Civil and Environmental Engineering, Transport Engineering Norway 16

    Google Scholar 

  • S Innamaa M Pursula (2000) Liikennemäärän ja nopeuden lyhyen aikavälin ennustaminen (Short-term prediction of flow and speed). Finnra Reports 54/2000 Finnish National Road Administration Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • M Kiljunen H Summala (1996) Ruuhkaisuuden kokeminen ja liikennetilanne-tiedottaminen. Tienkäyttäjätutkimus kaksikaistaisilla teillä. (Perception of traffic conditions, and traffic information – a road user survey on two lane roads). Finnra Reports 25/1996 Finnish National Road Administration Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • Kwon J, Coifman B & Bickel P (2000) Day-to-day travel time trends and travel time prediction from loop detector data. Transportation Research Record 1717, Highway and Traffic Safety: Crash Data, Analysis Tools, and Statistical Methods, 120–129.

  • Lee S, Kim D, Kim J & Cho B (1998) Comparison of models for predicting short-term travel speeds. Proceedings of 5th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, Seoul, Korea. 9 p.

  • Lee Y & Choi C (1998) Development of a link travel time prediction algorithm for urban expressway. Proceedings of 5th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, Seoul, Korea. 8 p.

  • C Lindveld R Thijs P Bovy N Zijpp Particlevan der (2000) ArticleTitleEvaluation of online travel time estimators and predictors Transportation Research Record 1719 45–53

    Google Scholar 

  • H Lint Particlevan (2003) Confidence intervals for real-time motorway travel time prediction IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems Shanghai, China 6

    Google Scholar 

  • J Lint Particlevan S Hoogendoorn H Zuylen Particlevan (2002) ArticleTitleMotorway travel time prediction with state-space neural networks: modeling state-space dynamics with recurrent neural networks Transportation Research Record 1811 30–39

    Google Scholar 

  • van Lint J, Hoogendoorn S & van Zuylen H (2003) Toward a robust framework for motorway travel time prediction: experiments with simple imputation and state-space neural networks. Transportation Research Board 82nd Annual Meeting, Compendium of papers CD-ROM, Washington D.C. 11 p.

  • S Luoma (1998) Liikenteen sujuvuus ja sen mittaaminen (Transport system efficiency and its estimation). Finnra Reports 21/1998 Finnish National Road Administration Helsinki

    Google Scholar 

  • Matsui H & Fujita M (1998) Travel time prediction for motorway traffic information by neural network driven fuzzy reasoning. In: Neural Networks in transportation Applications, 355–364.

  • McFadden J, Yang W.T & Durrans S (2001) Application of artificial neural networks to predict speeds on two-lane rural highways. Transportation Research Record1751, Geometric Design and the Effects on Traffic Operations (2001), 9 –17.

  • C Nanthawichit T Nakatsuji H Suzuki (2003) Application of probe vehicle data for real-time traffic state estimation and short-term travel time prediction on a motorway CD-ROM Washington D.C. 16

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohba Y, Ueno H & Kuwahara M (2000) Travel time prediction method for expressway using toll collection system data. Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Intelligent Systems, held in Turin, Italy. 8 p.

  • Park D & Rilett L (1998) Forecasting multiple-period motorway link travel times using modular neural networks. Transportation Research Record1617, Land Use and Transportation Planning and Programming Applications, 163–170.

  • D Park L Rilett (1999) ArticleTitleForecasting motorway link travel times with a feedforward neural network Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering 1999/09 14 IssueID5 357–367 Occurrence Handle10.1111/0885-9507.00154

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Park D, Rilett L & Han G (1999) Spectral basis neural networks for real-time travel time forecasting. Journal of Transportation Engineering November/December 1999, 515–523.

  • Paterson D & Rose G (1999) Dynamic travel time estimation on instrumented motorways. Proceedings of the 6th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), held in Toronto. 11 p.

  • Rilett L & Park D (2001) Direct forecasting of motorway corridor travel times using spectral basis neural networks. Transportation Research Record1752, Travel Patterns and Behavior; Effects of Communications Technology, 140–147.

  • M Saito T Watanabe (1995) Prediction and dissemination systems for travel time utilizing vehicle detectors. Steps Forward Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress Yokohama, Japan 106–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao C, Gu Y & Zhang K (2002) A study on dynamic travel time forecast with neural networks. In: Wang K, Xiao G, Nie L & Yang H (Eds.) Traffic and Transportation Studies. Proceedings of ICTTS 2002, Vol. 1, 716–721.

  • B Smith M Demetsky (1994) ArticleTitleShort-term traffic flow prediction: neural network approach Transportation Research Record 1453 98–104

    Google Scholar 

  • B Smith M Demetsky (1997) ArticleTitleTraffic flow forecasting: comparison of modeling approaches Journal of Transportation Engineering 123 IssueID4 261–266 Occurrence Handle10.1061/(ASCE)0733-947X(1997)123:4(261)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki H, Nakatsuji T, Tanaboriboon Y & Takahashi K (2000) Dynamic estimation of origin-destination travel time and flow on a long motorway corridor. Transportation Research Record1739, Evaluating Intelligent Transportation Systems, Advanced Traveler Information Systems, and Other Artificial Intelligence Applications, 67–75.

  • Toppen A & Wunderlich K (2003) Travel time data collection for measurement of advanced traveler information systems accuracy. Federal Highway Administration, Project No. 0900610-D1. 20 p.

  • K Yasui K Ikenoue H Takeuchi (1995) Use of AVI information linked up with detector output in travel time prediction and O–D flow estimation, Steps Forward Intelligent Transport Systems World Congress Yokohama, Japan 94–99

    Google Scholar 

  • J You T Kim (2000) ArticleTitleDevelopment and evaluation of a hybrid travel time forecasting model Transportation Research, Part C: Emerging Technologies 8 231–256

    Google Scholar 

  • X Zhang J Rice (2003) ArticleTitleShort-term travel time prediction Transport Research Part C 11 187–210 Occurrence Handle10.1016/S0968-090X(03)00026-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Satu Innamaa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Innamaa, S. Short-Term Prediction of Travel Time using Neural Networks on an Interurban Highway. Transportation 32, 649–669 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-0219-y

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-005-0219-y

Keywords

Navigation