Dynamic: A queuing-based dynamic macroscopic traffic assignment simulation model

The traffic networks within most medium to large urban areas experience traffic flows and/or controls which lead to complex traffic dynamics, such as oversaturation queues, en-route re-routing of traffic, changes in signal timings, incidents, or sometimes even gridlock. Most of the traffic assignment methodologies, that have been utilized to date to examine such networks, however, either have been predominately static in nature or have only approximated the full dynamics that are present in these networks. In contrast, some of the traffic simulation models that have attempted to better capture some of these operational dynamics have needed to ignore some finer elements of the routing aspects of the problem. This research presents and demonstrates a new solution approach to the dynamic traffic assignment problem, called DYNAMIC. This new model performs a macroscopic network equilibrium analysis, similar to most traditional transportation planning oriented network equilibrium methods, but is responsive to operational network dynamics in a fashion that has traditionally only been observed in traffic engineering oriented simulation models. The model solves the dynamic traffic assignment problem using tri-level modules. In the first level, new alternative minimum routes to traverse the network are found. At the second level, the proportion of vehicles that should utilize these alternative routes is solved. At the third level, the routes that vehicles utilize and the proportions in which vehicles utilize these routes are held constant, and a convergent solution between the resulting link travel times and the associated arrival logs at subsequent links is solved.