A traffic simulation approach to evaluating the benefits of incident management programs.

The work reported in this paper is part of a research project aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of using micro-simulation models to evaluate the potential benefits that can be realised from the integration of incident management strategies on both the arterial and motorway networks such that traffic can be diverted to least congested routes. Data collected from the test-bed on the Gold Coast and the Nerang Traffic Management Centre is being used to develop, test and evaluate incident management strategies under live conditions and develop route diversion plans. The project uses AIMSUN microscopic simulation to develop the strategies. For this paper, part of the simulation model for a major arterial road on the Gold Coast will be used to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. Results of simulating incidents on the motorway and creating diversion plans to the arterial network are the subject of another paper submission and are not addressed in this paper. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E214666.