Zareian, Mohammad Mahdi (University of Calgary), Kattan, Lina (University of Calgary)

Toward a Fair and Efficient Ramp Metering Approach

Scheduled for presentation during the Poster Session "Detection, estimatation and prediction for intelligent transportation systems" (WeAT17), Wednesday, September 25, 2024, 10:30−12:30, Foyer

2024 IEEE 27th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC), September 24- 27, 2024, Edmonton, Canada

This information is tentative and subject to change. Compiled on October 3, 2024

Abstract

This paper introduces a pioneering ramp metering strategy that utilizes utility functions inspired by the concept of fairness, aiming to equitably balance the Total Travel Time (TTT) on the freeway’s main flow and the delay experienced at on-ramps. This approach seeks to enhance TTT without unduly burdening individual drivers. To prevent congestion spillback, the model incorporates the maximum capacities of on-ramps as a critical constraint. The study delineates two principal types of utility functions: one tailored for each on-ramp and another for individual freeway sections. A Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) is employed to forecast the inflow to the freeway, enabling a responsive adaptation to the dynamic shifts in traffic flow. The numerical results underscore the model's ability to foster a fair solution in terms of on-ramp queue length and delay without compromising the effectiveness in terms of TTT improvement.