An analytical approximation for the macroscopic fundamental diagram of urban traffic

Carlos F. Daganzo and Nikolas Geroliminis

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 2008, vol. 42, issue 9, 771-781

Abstract: This paper shows that a macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) relating average flow and average density must exist on any street with blocks of diverse widths and lengths, but no turns, even if all or some of the intersections are controlled by arbitrarily timed traffic signals. The timing patterns are assumed to be fixed in time. Exact analytical expressions in terms of a shortest path recipe are given, both, for the street's capacity and its MFD. Approximate formulas that require little data are also given. For networks, the paper derives an upper bound for average flow conditional on average density, and then suggests conditions under which the bound should be tight; i.e., under which the bound is an approximate MFD. The MFD's produced with this method for the central business districts of San Francisco (California) and Yokohama (Japan) are compared with those obtained experimentally in earlier publications.

Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (109)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191-2615(08)00079-9
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transb:v:42:y:2008:i:9:p:771-781

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part B: Methodological is currently edited by Fred Mannering

More articles in Transportation Research Part B: Methodological from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().