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Title: On the impacts of roadway hierarchy on the network Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram
Relationships between average network productivity and accumulation or density aggregated 2 across spatially compact regions of urban networks—so called network Macroscopic Fundamental 3 Diagrams (MFDs)—have recently been shown to exist. Various analytical methods have been put 4 forward to estimate a network’s MFD as a function of network properties, such as average block 5 lengths, signal timings, and traffic flow characteristics on links. However, real street networks are 6 not homogeneous—they generally have a hierarchical structure where some streets (e.g., arterials) 7 promote higher mobility than others (e.g., local roads). This paper provides an analytical method 8 to estimate the MFDs of hierarchical street networks by considering features that are specific to 9 hierarchical network structures. Since the performance of hierarchical networks is driven by how 10 vehicles are routed across the different street types, two routing conditions— user equilibrium and 11 system optimal routing—are considered in the analytical model. The proposed method is first 12 implemented to describe the MFD of a hierarchical one-way limited access linear corridor and 13 then extended to a more realistic hierarchical two-dimensional grid network. For both cases, it is 14 shown that the MFD of a hierarchical network may no longer be unimodal or concave as 15 traditionally assumed in most MFD-based modeling frameworks. These findings are verified using 16 simulations of hierarchical corridors. Finally, the proposed methodology is applied to demonstrate 17 how it can be used to make decisions related to the design of hierarchical street network structures.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1749200
PAR ID:
10220022
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
100th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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