Research question

It is obvious that traffic has effects on the environment. Cars use fuel, produce noise and emit toxic gasses. Not to mention the space they take and the impact they have on the climate change issue. Until now, factors for emission for cars are used to determine the effects of traffic. The research question: is there a better way to determine these effects and can measurements with satellites be used for this? Another question is how traffic management can be used to improve environmental conditions. 

VMS’s (so-called DRIP’s) can be deployed to provide queue length information or travel time information on available route alternatives. It is unclear what the response of the travellers to the different types of information is, and under which conditions or in which situations queue length information is preferred over the travel time information. If travel time information is provided, how can this information be determined from available traffic data? What is the impact of the quality of the information on its use and effect?

In-car traffic information is maturing. Navigation systems that use real-time traffic data to provide information and guidance to the driver are becoming more and more common. The number of vehicles with such a system on board is still relatively small, but increasing steadily. It is not yet clear how the traffic system will change when the penetration level will increase substantially. Is there still a need for providing traffic information via DRIPs? What will the impact of these systems be on Dynamic Traffic Management in general?

Traditionally, traffic detection is achieved via so-called inductive loops. In fact, many of the Dutch motorways are equipped with a dense array of these loops (at approximately 500 meter distance). These loops are however relatively expense, and require substantial maintenance. In the recent years however, new technologies have become available that can be used as alternatives for these inductive loops. Amongst these techniques is in-car technology, for instance via mobile phones or via in-car navigation technology. One of the major questions is how this information can be put to use for real-time traffic management (e.g. monitoring, incident detection, traffic information… Read More »Real-time traffic monitoring by in-car technology

It seems that safety and traffic operations are two conflicting sides of traffic. Normally, improving safety leads to negative impacts on traffic operations. Examples are increasing the distance between vehicles on the motorway or building roundabouts instead of signalised intersections. The research question is: how is the balance between safety and traffic operations? Under which conditions does an improvement in safety also leads to an improvement in traffic operations and the other way round?

It is known that weather conditions have a large impact on traffic operations. Capacity of the road drops when it rains or snows. How large the impacts are, is not known for all conditions. Weather information is important for all kinds of issues, but is not used in traffic information. That leads us to the research question: what is the influence of weather conditions on traffic operations and what are the possibilities to improve traffic operations with weather information?

Traffic information comes in different forms. Queue length information and travel time information is provided via road-side systems, real-time information and guidance is provided via in-car technology. Travelers use the internet to acquire information regarding the current conditions in the network before embarking upon their trip. Information is broadcasted via TV, Teletekst or the radio. Besided the way traffic information is broadcasted, also the content of the information can vary: realized travel times can be provided, but also predicted travel times. The main question is what the impacts of these different information provision strategies are on the traffic flow conditions.… Read More »Traffic information and its impact on network flow operations

A rapid detection of incidents is necessary for a swift recovery of traffic after the occurrence of incidents. There are a number of possibilities for this, one of them is to use loop detection systems. These provide data on traffic flow and speed. One of the questions is how to make a distinction between situations with and without incidents. Another questions is can the current algorithms be improved or can we think of a new algorithm which is better than the existing ones.

Informed travelers can better decide which route to take, and even whether or not to start traveling. Especially in case of incidents, traffic information is quite valuable. One of the questions to be researched is if, and how, it is possible to estimate in real-time the duration of incidents. It this is indeed feasible, then this may greatly improve current traffic information.

In the Netherlands, the role of the government as an traffic information provider is limited to disseminating information via road-side systems. Broadcasting traffic information by other means, e.g. via the Internet or via in-car navigation systems, is the tasks of (commercial) service providers. However, service providers will only be interested in providing information services if – in the end – they can make a profit, while the common good for society will not have their priority. An important question is what the implication of division of roles is? Is it optimal? Would a different arrangement of the responsibilities yield a… Read More »Role of information providers and government in traffic information