Lincoln Tunnel Traffic Control Experiment

Abstract

AN EXPERIMENT TO DEVELOP COMPUTER METHODOLOGY FOR IMPROVING TRAFFIC FLOW THROUGH LINCOLN TUNNEL IS DESCRIBED. SOME REMARKS ARE GIVEN ON THE POTENTIAL SPINOFFS FROM THIS EXPERIMENT WHICH MAY INFLUENCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS. RESULTS SHOWED A MEASURABLE INCREASE IN THROUGHPUT, HIGHER SPEEDS WITH LOWER DENSITIES DURING THE CONTROL PERIOD. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT HIGH FLOWS COULD BE MAINTAINED AT MODERATELY HIGH SPEED IF DENSITIES DID NOT REACH CONGESTION LEVELS. THE EXPERIMENT HAD BENEFITS IN PROVIDING ACCURATE TRAFFIC DATA, CALIBRATION AND CORRECTION OF MAGNETIC LOOP DETECTORS. /HSL/