This paper provides an overview of the location theory, queuing models and optimization algorithms applied to a decision support system called OptimalCMS. The OptimalCMS software program has been designed to help transportation planners decide the combination of locations for Changeable Message Signs (CMS) that will provide the most benefit to users. Several components are incorporated into the program including: 1) a Geographical Information System (GIS) for displaying spatially related information, 2) a discrete network model to predict traffic flows on road sections, 3) a deterministic queuing model to predict traffic delay under incident conditions, 4) a logit model to predict driver route choice under incident conditions, and 5) a genetic algorithm (GA) optimization routine. The system is robust and readily applicable to any freeway-arterial network containing sufficient incident data. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting