The development of BPR models in smart cities using loop detectors and license plate recognition technologies: A case study

The trend toward sustainable city development is associated with intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Automation, efficiency, safety, security, and cost-effectiveness are critical factors in establishing each aspect of a smart city. Real-time data obtained from ITS play an essential role in improving the level of service of road segments, enhancing road safety, and supporting road users with road circumstances information. Travel time information is applicable in travel time maps, decision makings for traffic congestion, dynamic pricing of the network, emergency relief services, traffic flow monitoring, traffic jams management, and air quality analysis. Travel time on a road segment highly depends on geometrical specifications, environmental and weather conditions, traffic flow, and driving behavior. Due to specific driving behavior and road conditions, the above parameters are not essentially applicable in another region. The present research uses the data collected from loop detectors and License Plate Recognition (LPR) systems to develop a Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) model for Iran’s freeway network (Tehran-Qom Freeway). Because of the large amount of data, the SQL server program was used for creating and organizing the database and the BPR model was calibrated using SPSS statistical software. The results of the BPR model were evaluated with an ANOVA test, indicating that the derived model can estimate the travel time at freeway sections with a %5.2 error for the volume-to-capacity ratio (V/C) of less than 0.8.