Versatile model for simulation of rural road traffic

In many countries the road mileage is dominated by rural highways. For that reason it is important to have access to efficient tools for evaluation of the performance of such roads. For other road types, e.g., freeways and urban street networks, a wealth of microsimulation models is available. However, only a few models dedicated to rural roads have been developed. None of these models handles traffic flows interrupted by intersections or roundabouts, nor are the models capable of describing the traffic flow on rural roads with a cable barrier between oncoming lanes. These are major drawbacks when Swedish roads, on which cable barriers and roundabouts are becoming increasingly important, are modeled. Moreover, as new areas of application for rural road simulation arise, a flexible and detailed model is needed. Such applications include, among other things, simulation of driver assistance systems and estimation of pollutant emissions. This paper introduces a versatile traffic microsimulation model for the rural roads of today and of the future. The model system presented, the Rural Traffic Simulator (RuTSim), is capable of handling all common types of rural roads, including the effects of roundabouts and intersections on the traffic on the main road. The purpose of the paper is to describe the simulation approach and the traffic modeling used in RuTSim. A verification of the RuTSim model is also included. RuTSim is found to produce outputs representative of all common types of rural roads in Sweden.