INVESTIGATION OF NETWORK-LEVEL TRAFFIC FLOW RELATIONSHIPS: SOME SIMULATION RESULTS.

Results of an exploratory study of network-level relationships in an isolated network with a fixed number of vehicles circulating according to the microscopic rules embedded in the NETSIM traffic simulation model are presented. The primary concern was to assess the usefulness of such simulation-based approaches in the investigation of macroscopic network-level traffic relationships. Three specific objectives were addressed: identification of network-level descriptors that are related in operationally useful and simple ways, exploration of some aspects of the two-fluid theory of town traffic, and examination of the traffic flow distribution over the network components.