REU 2009 – Modeling Traffic Flow in Long-term Work Zones

Work zones exacerbate delays on already-congested roadways by reducing the capacity. In order to minimize such delays, traffic engineers must strategically plan and schedule work zones. The goal of our project is to help the Massachusetts Highway Department better model the effects of long-term work zones on traffic flow. Specifically we consider queuing analysis, continuum models, various capacity calculations, with Massachusetts-specific data in an effort to improve the accuracy of their model.