METHODOLOGY TO EVALUATE DIFFERENT ALTERNATIVES USING MICROSCOPIC TRAFFIC SIMULATION, PILOT STUDY AT KATCHERY CHOWK RAWALPINDI

Abstract

The growth in urban traffic congestion has been recognized as a serious problem in all large metropolitan areas in the country. This traffic congestion has significantly affected the economy, travel behavior, land use and has been a cause of discomfort for millions of motorists. The decline in urban mobility resulting from traffic congestion has become a major concern to the transportation industry, business community and general public. Among the many issues that require attention in congestion management is the need for analytical procedures as well as the awareness for the use of traffic simulation procedures to study, analyze and counter the effects of congestion. Pakistan belongs to third world and is economically not very strong. Traffic operations in our country are still in an embryonic form as compared to the developed countries of the world. Latest trends in traffic engineering are not practiced in our country for various reasons such as lack of understanding, lack of availability of the modern software’s and the fear of “Black Box’’. These phenomena result in the wastage of our national resources which can be utilized elsewhere. The main objectives of this research work is to carry out testing / evaluating various geometric improvements in order to determine their effectiveness and feasibility and the visualization of traffic operations for different alternatives in 2D and 3D graphics. Moreover, measures of effectiveness like delay, queue length, travel time, mean speed, etc are calculated in order to improving traffic flow conditions and help Government agencies to improve traffic operations in most economical conditions by using microscopic simulation software’s. The process includes defining a methodology for Pakistan in which various alternatives can be evaluated by the use of microscopic simulation. It starts from the identification of the study area i.e. Katchery intersection in Rawalpindi was identified as one of the busiest and congested intersection. Then various traffic and geometric data of the study area was collected as the input parameter of the existing geometric design. Various alternative designs available with Rawalpindi Development Authority for the intersection i.e. at grade management and grade separated designs were collected for evaluation besides existing conditions of the intersection. Basing on this data, analysis was carried out with the help of microscopic simulation software i.e. VISSIM and a comparison was made between the existing conditions and the various alternatives in order to reach at the best possible and cost effective solution as regards improvements in the geometric design of the intersection. This thesis has demonstrated that microscopic simulation is a valuable tool for evaluating operational-level transportation projects. Indeed, it was shown that the uses for microscopic simulation extend outside of this area, and that the capabilities of simulation models will increase in the future. It was shown that microscopic simulation is capable of evaluating various alternatives of a complex geometric configuration and helps the planners in transportation industry towards a viable solution without spending much of the finances. Simulation models were shown to be effective for the evaluation of these projects in cases where it would otherwise be impossible or infeasible to do so. It was thence shown that microscopic simulation tools can be used not only to determine the impacts of these transportation projects, but also to optimize these projects. The purpose of this dissertation is to formulate a methodology for the evaluation of different alternatives using microscopic simulation as an evaluation tool for different traffic related problems in Pakistan.