This article describes the use of access control for heavy vehicles to tunnels, to improve tunnel safety. The simulation case study considered is the Vielha tunnel between France and Spain. Heavy vehicles would be only allowed in the tunnel in one direction at a time; those approaching the tunnel from the opposite direction would be held back until the way was clear. The project for this involved data collection, basic model building and calibration; design of a new model and evaluation of three alternative scenarios, pre-timed, full adaptive and semi-adaptive control strategies; design of a set of simulation experiments; and results analyses and conclusions. It was decided that full adaptive strategy performed better for vehicles travelling to Spain, and semi-adaptive performed better for those travelling to France. For the covering abstract see ITRD E118381.
Samenvatting