Traffic Management System for Boston's Central Artery and third Harbor Tunnel:

The primary activities of this project include the evaluation and refinement of the design of the traffic surveillance and control system for the Central Artery, including traffic surveillance, congestion prediction, mainline metering, access control, incidence response, and route guidance. A microscopic computer simulation capability for testing and evaluating alternative designs has been developed for that purpose. The simulation tool, MITSIM, represents the traffic flow at the individual vehicle level (based on individual driving behavior models that govern acceleration, car-following, and lane-changing behavior), surveillance system at the sensor level, the traffic control logic, and control devices at the device level. This tool accepts any network as input and is essential for evaluating Advanced Traffic Management Systems at the operational level.

Prediction Based Departure Time and Route Choice Guidance System:

The objective of this project is to develop a Dynamic Traffic Assignment system (DTA) that supports real-time applications such as dynamic route guidance and adaptive traffic control. The system, DynaMIT, is intended to reside in Traffic Management Centers and, therefore, deployability is one of the driving design criteria. DynaMIT is designed to operate in real time, accept real-time surveillance data, and estimate and predict time-dependent OD flows. The system also incorporates different driver classes and their behavior, provides self-calibration capabilities, estimates current network conditions, predicts future traffic conditions, interfaces with the traffic control system, and generates route guidance consistent with the predicted traffic conditions. It is designed to make departure time, mode and route recommendations for a variety of information systems and information dissemination strategies.

Analysis of Diversion Strategies for Incident Scenarios Using Dynamic Traffic Assignment:

The objectives of the project are to apply DynaMIT, the Dynamic Traffic Assignment system developed at MIT, to the Eastern Massachusetts freeway and arterial network in order to develop and test traffic diversion strategies using Variable Message Signs for different incidents scenarios.

Real-Time Network Optimization System:

The purpose of this project is to develop and test a real-time traffic network optimization system. This system will be capable of adapting to rapidly changing traffic patterns associated with incidents and special events in both urban grid and freeway networks. Integration of advanced techniques will be evaluated with data from an actual test area in Boston. Public Acceptance and User Response to Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS)

The main objective of this research is to present realistic figures of the potential ATIS market penetration and to evaluate the effect of ATIS on traveler behavior. The project will assemble a coordinated database on user acceptance and response to ATIS, and will develop and demonstrate a model system for ATIS prediction and evaluation.

Human Factors Engineering Support for Boston's Central Artery and Third Harbor Tunnel (CA/T):

Human factors aspects of the Operation Control Center (OCC) design were reviewed for Boston's Central Artery and Third Harbor Tunnel (CA/T). An operator-in-the-loop simulation of the OCC was developed for incident management scenarios. OCC operation simulation was demonstrated and validated with human subjects. This human factor research supported for OCC display design.

Evaluation of Sensor And Communication Technologies for Boston's Central Artery and Third Harbor Tunnel (CA/T):

Sensor technologies were evaluated for traffic management on the CA/T, and emerging sensor technologies were identified. Vehicle to Roadside Communication (VRC) systems were demonstrated on the CA/T to perform electronic toll collection, restricted access (e.g. HOV), traffic surveillance and driver information functions.