Infrastructure-dependent ramp-metering control for METANET-s

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel infrastructure-dependent ramp-metering control for the recently proposed METANET with service station (METANET-s) model, i.e., a second-order macroscopic traffic model that, compared to the classical METANET, incorporates the dynamics of service stations on highways. We study the effect of a ramp-metering control scheme on a highway stretch with a service station and show that it is capable of actively regulate internal traffic demand attempting to exit the service station via its on-ramp, on top of contributing to decrease the traffic congestion on the mainstream. In fact, the proposed control scheme effectively prevents the backlog of vehicles attempting to merge back onto the mainstream. This dynamic control mechanism is further endowed by a route guidance control strategy increasing the share of vehicles stopping at the service station during main-stream congestion periods, e.g. via incentives. The combined effect of our control schemes allows to take full advantage of the presence of service stations, reducing the overall traffic congestion. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies.