A microscopic simulation and animation model for electronic toll plazas

This study presents a discrete-event stochastic object-oriented microscopic simulation model specifically developed to evaluate the operational performance of toll plazas. Modified versions of Car-Following and Lane-Changing Algorithms, and a new Toll-Lane Selection Algorithm are integrated into this new model to simulate traffic operation at toll plazas. The model output includes Measures of Effectiveness that can be used to evaluate the performance of existing and future individual toll lanes and the entire toll plaza system. Statistical tests indicated that there is no significant difference at the 95% confidence level between Measures of Effectiveness obtained from the model and those collected in the real world.; Sensitivity analysis of market penetration of the Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system indicates that an increase in ETC subscription rate improves the efficiency of the toll plaza operation. The findings of this study showed that, for all plaza configurations simulated with the manual lanes operating over capacity, the total plaza delay can be reduced in half and average queuing delay per vehicle can be reduced by more than 90 seconds if only 10% of the users can switch from manual to ETC lanes.; An increase of 20%–30% of the plaza throughput can be achieved by switching only 10% of the manual users to ETC users during the morning peak hour when the manual lanes operate over their capacities.; Analysis of peak hour delay showed also that adding more dedicated ETC lanes immaturely, i.e., without an increase in the level of ETC subscription, can cause an increase in the plaza queuing delay and decrease in the total plaza throughput.; Sensitivity analysis of the ETC market penetration showed that when ETC usage during the rush hour is high (>60%), delays reach a considerably reduced level for all plaza configurations, and any additional dedicated ETC lane does not have any impact on the plaza operational performance.; Delay Sensitivity analysis to the locations of dedicated ETC lanes indicated that plaza delay is insensitive to the locations of the dedicated ETC lanes. ETC vehicle accessibility to the dedicated ETC lanes from the approach lanes is the main factor that influences the locations of the dedicated ETC within the toll plaza. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...