Aid to Determining Freeway Metering Rates and Detecting Loop Errors

A recent freeway congestion prediction study for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) found that the sum of storage rates over time, SumSR(t), for a freeway section was a better variable for determining the best upstream ramp metering rates than the storage rate for time interval t, SR(t), which is the current WSDOT criterion. (Use of the SumSR(t) variable for this purpose requires that the summation be started during a period of low density flows.) Another finding was that the SumSR(t) variable was a better detector of loop “chattering” errors than WSDOT's current criterion, which misses chattering errors that occur at normal traffic volume levels. Since calculation of SumSR(t) is easily incorporated in the current WSDOT ramp metering algorithm, the writer recommends its use in futute WSDOT freeway metering schemes.