Effect of explicit lane changing in traffic lattice hydrodynamic model with interruption

In this paper, the explicit lane changing effect for two-lane traffic system with interruption is studied based on lattice hydrodynamic model. Through linear stability analysis, the neutral stability criterion for the two-lane traffic system is derived, and the density–sensitivity space is divided into the stable and unstable regions by the neutral stability curve. By applying nonlinear reductive perturbation method, the Burgers equation and modified Korteweg–de Vries (mKdV) equation are obtained to depict the density waves in the stable and unstable regions, respectively. Numerical simulations confirm the theoretical results showing that the traffic characteristics in the stable and unstable regions can be described respectively by the triangular shock waves of the Burgers equation and the kink–antikink solution of the mKdV equation. Also it is proved that lane changing can average the traffic situation of each lane for two-lane traffic system and enhance the stability of traffic flow, but traffic interruption of the current lattice can deteriorate the stable level of traffic flow and easily result in traffic congestion.