Variable Speed Release (VSR): Speed Control to Increase Bottleneck Capacity

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Variable Speed Release (VSR): Speed Control to Increase Bottleneck Capacity

Han, Youngjun / Ahn, Soyoung

This paper proposes a speed control method termed variable speed release (VSR) to increase bottleneck capacity. The main idea is to increase the speed of vehicles approaching a bottleneck to reduce the probability of traffic breakdown and sustain higher flow, thereby achieving a higher system throughput. This paper provides insight into the mechanism of improvement through modeling and a numerical experiment. The results suggest that the proposed VSR control would be particularly effective with smaller response time, which can be realized by connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies. This paper also provides conditions in which VSR control would be effective or should be complemented with other control methods such as variable speed limit and ramp metering control. The results of evaluation by microscopic simulations demonstrate significant improvements of system throughput, particularly in a CAV environment.