• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.333-350
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• 1999

Today freeway is thought to be a very important transportation facility carrying tremendous traffic flow as the main corridor within the area of between the areas. However freeway is experiencing severe congestion and accidents by increased entrance ramp flow especially at peak time period. Ramp meters on the freeway entrance ramps that supply traffic to the freeway in a measured or appropriately regulated amount are needed for alleviating freeway congestion. Because ramp meters can be operated to discharge traffic at a measured or regulated rate thus maintaining more uniform speed on the mainline section maximizing the throughput to the freeway within the capacity of a downstream bottleneck and reducing the congestion related accidents. Thus the objectives in this study were to analyze the traffic characteristics on the freeway I-94 with ramp metering system before/after ITS technology in Detroit (Michigan) area compare shifts of the traffic characteristics on the freeway I-94 before/after ITS technology and finally suggest a better ramp metering strategy for the freeway system The following results were obtained: i)Flow occupancies and speeds on the mainline merge section of freeway were shown to be a big difference depending on the peak periods areas and directions based on the distribution of traffic flow characteristics on the freeway. ii)Reduced speed was shown to be more than 5 mph and ramp flow was also shown to be more than 240 vph at peak periods if there was the ramp metering system constructed on the freeway. iii)Ramp metering system was shown to be optimally operated on the freeway if ramp flow could be maximized within the range of over 900 vph and reduced occupancy could be also maximized by no more than 2 percent at peak periods. iv)The average flows on the freeway after the ITS technology were shown to be a decrease of over 20% depending on the peak periods areas and directions when compared with those flow on the freeway before the ITS technology. over 20% depending on the peak periods areas and directions when compared with those speeds on the freeway before the ITS technology. vi)The average metering rates on the freeway after the ITS technology were shown to be an increase of over 10% depending on the peak periods areas and directions when compared with those metering rates on the freeway before the ITS technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Navigation and Port Research Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.131-140
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• 1999

Today freeway is experiencing a severe congestion with incoming or outgoing traffic through freeway ramps during the peak periods. Thus, the objectives of this study is to identify the traffic characteristics, analyze the relationships between the traffic characteristics and finally construct the delay predictive models on the ramp junctions of freeway with 70mph speed limit. From the traffic analyses, and model constructions and verifications for delay prediction on the ramp junctions of freeway, the following results were obtained: ⅰ) Traffic flow showed a big difference depending on the time periods. Especially, more traffic flows were concentrated on the freeway junctions in the morning peak period when compared with the afternoon peak period. ⅱ) The occupancy also showed a big difference depending on the time periods, and the downstream occupancy(Od) was especially shown to have a higher explanatory power for the delay predictive model construction on the ramp junction of freeway. ⅲ) The speed-occupancy curve showed a remarkable shift based on the occupancies observed ; Od < 9% and Od$\geq$9%. Especially, volume and occupancy were shown to be highly explanatory for delay prediction on the ramp junctions of freeway under Od$\geq$9%, but lowly for delay predicion on the ramp junctions of freeway under Od<9%. Rather, the driver characteristics or transportation conditions around the freeway were through to be a little higher explanatory for the delay perdiction under Od<9%. ⅳ) Integrated delay predictive models showed a higher explanatory power in the morning peak period, but a lower explanatory power in the non-peak periods.

• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.419-427
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• 2000

Today travel demand continues to increase with spread of economic zones. Also, urban freeway plays an important role in intra-zone transportations as a major corridor in a big city. However, most of urban freeways experience a severe congestion with the excess of inflowing or outflowing traffic through freeway ramps. The purpose of this study is to identify the traffic characteristics, analyze the relationships between the traffic characteristics and finally construct the speed predictive models on the ramp junctions of urban freeway under the intelligent transportation system(ITS) settings. From the analyses of traffic characteristics following results were obtained: ⅰ) 24 hours average traffic characteristics flow, occupancy, speed under the ITS settings showed about 40%, 38%, 8.8% increase each on urban freeway junctions period when compared with that under the non-ITS settings each other. Free flow speed and traffic flow on the mainline sections of urban freeway under the ITS settings also showed about 20% and 17% increase when compared with that under the non-ITS, respectively. ⅱ) The upstream when compared speed( $S_{u}$)and downstream occupancy( $O_{d}$) were especially shown to have higher explanatory powers on the stable flow ramp junctions, but the upstream speed( $S_{u}$) and downstream flow( $V_{d}$) were especially shown on the unstable flow ramp junctions of urban freeway under the ITS settings.ngs.ngs.

• Journal of Korean Port Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2000

Today freeway is experiencing a severe congestion with incoming or outgoing traffic through freeway ramps during the peak periods. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the traffic characteristics, analyze the relationships between the traffic characteristics and finally construct the delay predictive models on the rap junctions of freeway with 70mph speed limit. From the traffic analyses, and model construction and verification for delay prediction on the ramp junctions of freeway, the following results were obtained : ⅰ) Traffic flow showed a big difference depending on the time periods. Especially, more traffic flows were concentrated on the freeway junctions in the morning peak period. ⅱ) The occupancy also showed a big difference depending on the time periods, and the downstream occupancy(Od) was especially shown to have a higher explanatory power for the delay predictive model construction on the ramp junctions of freeway. ⅲ) The delay-occupancy curve showed a remarkable shift based on the occupancies observed : O$\_$d/〈9% and O$\_$d/$\geq$9%. Especially, volume and occupancy were shown to be highly explanatory for delay prediction on the ramp junctions of freeway under O$\_$d/$\geq$9%, but lowly for delay prediction on the ramp junctions of freeway under O$\_$d/〈9%. Rather, the driver characteristics or transportation conditions around the freeway were thought to be a little higher explanatory for the delay prediction under O$\_$d/〈9%. ⅳ) Integrated delay predictive models showed a higher explanatory power in the morning peak period, but a lower explanatory power in the non-peak periods.

• Proceedings of the KOR-KST Conference
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• 1998.09a
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• pp.152-159
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• 1998

This paper presents a method evaluating benefits of ramp metering strategies on freeway safety. Based on the traffic and the accident data collected on a 4.2 km (2.6 mile) section of Interstate highway 35-West in Minneapolis, U.S.A., the relationship between traffic variables and safety measures is investigated. An aggregate specification that could be used to predict accident frequencies on freeways is proposed as a multiple regression form. The specification includes 15 minutes volume and occupancy data, which are commonly available from surveillance and control systems. The primary variables that appear to affect the frequencies of freeway accident are: vehicle-miles of travel, entrance ramp volumes and the dynamic effect of queue building. A simulation method evaluating the dynamic effect of control strategies on safety is proposed next. The potential benefits of freeway ramp metering on freeway safety are finally investigated via a proposed method.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.5-20
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• 1992

Even though the types of ramp facilities in Korea are not various like other countries operations in these sections are very important because ramp merging and /or diverging flow affects freeway overall sections. In this study existing methodologies especially the gap acceptance model and the regression model in USHCM are evaluated with our field data. By gap acceptance model the merging capacity is founded 2.360 pcph which is increased by 7% than the capacity of freeway basic section. And in comparison of actual lane 1 volume to the estimation volume by HCM model the model slightly overestimates the actual volue.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.84-92
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• 2006

Freeway Corridors consist of urban freeways and parallel arterials that drivers can use alternatively. Ramp metering in freeways and signal control in arterials are contemporary traffic control methods that have been developed and applied in order to improve traffic conditions of freeway corridors. However, most of the existing studies have focused on either optimal ramp metering in freeways, or progression signal strategies between arterial intersections. There have been no traffic control systems in Korea that integrates the freeway ramp metering and arterial signal control. The effective control strategies for freeway operations may cause negative effects on arterial traffic. On the other hand, traffic congestion and bottleneck phenomenon of arterials due to the increasing peak-hour travel demand and ineffective signal operation may generate an accessibility problem to freeway ramps. Thus, the main function of the freeway which is the through-traffic process has not been successful. The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated control model that connects freeway ramp metering systems and signal control systems in arterial intersections. And Optimization of integrated control model which consists of ramp metering and signal control is another purpose. Optimization results are verified by comparison with the results from MATDYMO.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.8-15
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• 2007

Freeway corridors consist of urban freeways and parallel arterials that drivers can use alternatively. Ramp metering in freeways and signal control in arterials are contemporary traffic control methods that have been developed and applied in order to improve traffic conditions of freeway corridors. However, most of the existing studies have focused on either optimal ramp metering in freeways, or progression signal strategies between arterial intersections. There have been no traffic control systems in Korea that integrates the freeway ramp metering and arterial signal control. The effective control strategies for freeway operations may cause negative effects on arterial traffic. On the other hand, traffic congestion and bottleneck phenomenon of arterials due to the increasing peak-hour travel demand and ineffective signal operation may generate an accessibility problem to freeway ramps. Thus, the main function of the freeway which is the through-traffic process has not been successful. The purpose of this study is to develop an integrated control model that connects freeway ramp metering systems and signal control systems in arterial intersections. And Optimization of integrated control model which consists of ramp metering and signal control is another purpose. The design of experiment, neural network, and simulated annealing are used for optimization.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.12
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• pp.2046-2052
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• 2016

Ramp metering is one of the most efficient and widely used control methods for an intelligent transportation management system on a freeway. Its objective is to control and upgrade freeway traffic by regulating the number of vehicles entering the freeway entrance ramp, in such a way that not only the alleviation of the congestion but also the smoothing of the traffic flow around the desired density level can be achieved for the maintenance of the maximum mainline throughput. When the cycle of the signal detection is larger than that of the system process, the density tracking problem needs to be considered in the form of the discrete-time system. Therefore, a discrete-time sliding mode control method is proposed for the ramp metering problem in the presence of both input constraint in the on-ramp and exogenous disturbance in the off-ramp considering the random behavior of the driver. Simulations were performed using a validated second-order macroscopic traffic flow model in Matlab environment and the simulation results indicate that proposed control method can achieve better performance than previously well-known ALINEA strategy in the sense that mainstream flow throughput is maximized and congestion is alleviated even in the presence of input constraint and exogenous disturbance.

• KIISE Transactions on Computing Practices
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.223-238
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• 2015

Ramp metering is the most effective and direct method to control a vehicle entering the freeway. This paper proposed the new density-based ramp metering method. Existing methods that use the flow data had low reliability data and can have various problems. Also, when the ramp metering was operated by freeway congestion, the additional congestion and over-capacity can occur in the ramp. To solve this problem with the existing method, the proposed method used the density and acceleration data of the freeway and considered the ramp status. The developed strategy was tested on Trunk Highway 62 west bound (TH-62 WB) in Minnesota Twin-City and compared with Stratified Zone Metering(SZM), which had been operating in the Twin-City freeway. To constitute the experiment environment, the VISSIM simulator was used. The Traffic Information and Condition Analysis System (TICAS) was developed to control the PTV VISSIM simulator. The experiment condition was set between 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM, Oct 5th, 2014 during severe traffic congestion. The simulation results showed that total travel time was reduced by 20% for SZM. Thus, we solved the problem of ramp congestion and over-capacity.