The advent in the mid-1980's of powerful minicomputers at relatively cheap prices enabled a revolution to take place in the way in which traffic could be modelled in London. The computing power newly available meant that the detailed simulation approach embodied in models originally designed to assess small-scale traffic management measures could be applied to large areas of London for the appraisal of major infrastructure schemes. This paper gives an overview of the large-scale traffic models produced by Halcrow Fox and Associates (HFA) in various parts of London over the last 5 years or so. All the models described here are based on the SATURN (Simulation and Assignment of Traffic in Urban Road Networks) suite of programs. The aim of the paper is to draw out the important principles behind the adoption of this approach to traffic modelling in the capital.
Samenvatting