Spatiotemporal statistical features of velocity responses to traffic congestions in a local motorway network
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The causal connection between congestions and velocity changes at different locations induces various statistical features, which we identify and measure in detail. We carry out an empirical analysis of large-scale traffic data on a local motorway network around the Breitscheid intersection in the North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. We put forward a response function which measures the velocity change at a certain location versus time conditioned on a congestion at another location. We use a novel definition of the corresponding congestion indicator to ensure causality. We find that the response of velocities to the congestion exhibits phase changes in time. A negative response at smaller time lags transforms into positive one at larger time lags, implying a certain traffic mechanism. The response decays as a power law with the distance. We also identify a scaling property leading to a collapse of the response functions on one curve.
Source: Journal of Physics Complexity
Institution: University of Duisburg-Essen
Language: English
Subfield: Control and Systems Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,385
OpenAlex ID: W4402883576