Abstract
The present study demonstrates applicability of VISSIM software to determine capacity of multilane highways under mixed traffic flow conditions. Traffic flow data collected on a section of four-lane divided highway are used to develop the speed-flow curve. The same set of field data is used in VISSIM and simulated speed-flow curve is compared with field curve. It was found that VISSIM in its original form overestimates both speed and capacity of the highway. Driver behaviour parameters CC0 and CC1 are first determined for homogeneous traffic conditions having only one of the four types of vehicles in the stream and then results are aggregated to get the values of these parameters for a mixed traffic stream. Further analysis of field data with calibrated values of CC0 and CC1 indicated a good match between field and simulated capacity. The procedure is shown to work on another section of four-lane divided highway with paved shoulders, where simulated capacity was 5329 pcu/hr against the field capacity of 5277 pcu/hr.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arasan, V. and Arkatkar, S. (2011). Derivation of capacity standards for intercity roads carrying heterogeneous traffic using computer simulation, Procedia Social And Behavioral Sciences, 6th International Symposiumon Highway Capacity and Quality of Service, Vol. 16, pp. 218–229, DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.444.
Chandra, S. and Kumar, U. (2003).“Effect of lane width on capacity under mixed traffic conditions in India.” Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 129, pp. 155–160, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-947X(2003)129:2(155).
Chandra, S., Zala, L. B., and Kumar, V. (1997). “Comparing the methods of passenger car unit estimation.” The Institution of Engineers (India), Vol. 78, No. CV/1, pp. 13–16.
Chitturi, M. V. and Benekohal R. F. (2008). “Calibration of VISSIM for freeway.” Proc. of 87th TRB Annual Meeting, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington D.C.
Choa, F., Milam, R. T., and Stanek, D. (2002). “CORSIM, PARAMICS, and VISSIM: What the manuals never told you.” Proc. of 9th TRB Conf. on the Application of Transportation Planning Methods, TRB, Louisiana, USA, pp. 392–402.
Dey, P. P., Chandra, S., and Gangopadhyay, S. (2008).“Simulation of mixed traffic flow on two-lane roads.” Journal of Transportation Engineering, ASCE, Vol. 134, No. 9, pp. 361–369, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE) 0733-947X(2008)134:9(361).
Fellendorf, M. and Vortisch, P. (2001). “Validation of the microscopic traffic simulation model VISSIM in different real-world situation.” Proc. of 80th Annual Meeting, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington D.C, USA.
Gomes, G., May, A., and Horowitz, R. (2004). “Congested freeway microsimulation model using VISSIM.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, TRB, Vol. 1876, pp. 71–81, DOI: 10.3141/1876-08.
Greenshields, B. D., Bibbins, J. R., Channing, W. S., and Miller, H. H. (1934). “A study of traffic capacity.” Proc. 14th Annual Meeting of Highway Research Board, Washington D.C, USA, pp. 448–447.
Hall, F. L. and Montgomery, F. O. (1993). “Investigation of an alternative interpretation of the speed-flow relationship for UK motorways.” Traffic Engineering and Control, Vol. 34, No. 9, pp. 420–425.
HCM (2010). Highway capacity manual, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, DC.
Lownes, N. E. and Machemehl, R. B. (2006). “Sensitivity of simulated capacity to modification of VISSIM driver behaviour parameters.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, TRB, Vol. 1988, pp. 102–110, DOI: 10.3141/1988-15.
Mathew, V. and Radhakrishnan, P. (2010). “Calibration of micro-simulation models for non-lane-based heterogeneous traffic at signalized intersections.” Journal of Urban Planning and Development, ASCE, Vol. 136, No. 1, pp. 59–66.
Menneni, S., Carlos, S., and Vortisch, P. (2007). “Micro-simulation calibration using speed-flow relationships.” Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, TRB, Vol. 2088, pp. 1–9, DOI: 10.3141/2088-01.
Moen, B., Fitts, J., Carter, D., and Yang, O. (2000). “A comparison of the VISSIM model to other widely used traffic simulation and analysis.” Proc. of ITE 2000 Annual meeting and Exhibit, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Tennessee, USA.
Park, B. B and Kwak, J. (2011). “Calibration and validation of TRANSIMS micro simulator for an urban arterial network”, KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, KSCE, Vol. 15, No. 6, pp. 1091–1100, DOI: 10.1007/s12205-011-1002-6.
Park, B. B., and Won, J. (2006). Simulation model calibration and validation: PhaseII: Development of implementation handbook, Transportation Research Council, Virginia, USA.
PTV (2011). VISSIM users manual, version 5.4, Planning Transport Verkehr (PTV) AG, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Raka, H. and Gao, Y. (2011). Calibrating the steady state model using macroscopic loop detector data, TRB Circular E-C149, TRB, National Research Council, Washington, DC.
Shukla, S. and Chandra, S. (2011). “Simulation of mixed traffic flow on four-lane divided highways.” Journal of the Indian Roads Congress, Vol. 72, No. 1, New Delhi, pp. 55–69.
Wiedemann, R. (1999). Simulation des staâenverkehrsflusses (in German), Schtiftenrsitat des Institutes Fur Verkehrswesen der Uinversitat, Karlsruhe, heft 8, Germany.
Yang, X. and Zhang, N. (2005). “The marginal decrease of lane capacity with the number of lanes on highway.” Proc. of Int. Conf. of Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies (EASTS), Vol. 5, pp. 739–749.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Mehar, A., Chandra, S. & Velmurugan, S. Highway capacity through vissim calibrated for mixed traffic conditions. KSCE J Civ Eng 18, 639–645 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-014-0440-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-014-0440-3