View article

This paper describes the development of the road network simulation model for impact studies of traffic management, which we call AVENUE (an Advanced & Visual Evaluator for road Networks in Urban arEas). Since traffic congestion has caused serious social problems in urban areas, traffic assessment which evaluates the impacts of large events or urban developments on road traffic is strongly required. So far, we have developed the first version of AVENUE which includes basic functions to reproduce traffic flow considering drivers' behaviors such as lane choice and route choice, and has been validated its traffic flow model with several real road networks. However, some modifications have been pointed out through the experiences of the model validations. The newer version is therefore improved to incorporate various route choice models and to reduce the calculation time. First, this paper describes the concepts of the traffic model used in AVENUE Ver. 2 which is characterized by the Multi-Scan Hybrid Block Density Method and the Multi-Layered Route Choice Model. The traffic model have been verified with several sample networks in terms of vehicle queue setting back, delays at signalized intersections, the decline in capacity of turning movements, and the route choice behaviors. Then, the model validation including its route choice model using the real road network which has about 50 intersections is reported. Based on this field application, the problems associated with the simulation of urban traffic as well as the model validity are disclosed.