PAPABILES Simulation-based evaluation of the impact of telematics in the Lausanne area: a pilot study. Phase 2: third lane and ramp metering

T hi s st udy f ollows the f irst phase of the PAPABI L ES project of which the purpose was to judge t he eff i ci ency of vari abl e speed lim i ts on the sect ion of the A1 m ot or way ranging bet ween the junct ion of Mor ges West and the Ecublens interchange. The results had shown that this tr af fi c m anagem ent tool i s of i nt er est but di d not real ly all ow sol vi ng the pr obl em of chr oni c congest ion obser ved i n the Mor ges East j uncti on zone. T hi s second phase of the PAPABI L ES pr oj ect proposes t o evaluate and to compare t wo types of r esponse to thi s pr obl em . T he fir st consist s in pr olonging the acceler at ion lane of the Mor ges E ast juncti on up to the Ecublens inter change, thus al lowi ng the traff i c to fl ow out on 3 lanes bet ween these t wo points. T he second, typical appli cati on of t he IT S field, i s the i mpl antati on of a r am p met er i ng on the Morges-east j uncti on ramp T hese eval uat ions were carr ied out by usi ng the microscopi c sim ul at or AI MSUN, a t ool devel - oped at the Pol yt echni c Uni versi ty of Cat al unya, i n S pai n. T he result s show that the const r ucti on of a thir d lane between the Mor ges East junct ion and the E cubl ens i nt erchange woul d al low decr easi ng tr avel ti mes on the studi ed secti on of al most 27 % and thi s in the case of ver y hi gh tr aff ic fl ows. This incr ease of the net work perf or m ance is the r esul t of the addit i on of two posi ti ve im pacts generated by the presence of the thir d lane, the suppr ession of the bot tl eneck at the exit of the Morges East juncti on and the incr ease in fl ui di t y and aver age speed. T he result s also show that ramp meter ing does not all ow avoi ding the presence of congesti on at the Mor ges East juncti on. Never theless, i t m akes possibl e the decrease of the pr opagat i on upstr eam of the j unct i on and especiall y t he durati on in ti me. Ram p met er ing also makes possibl e to reduce in a si gnif i cant way the del ays generated by the presence of an acci dent located downstr eam of the junction. This decr ease is part icularl y im - por tant for medium demand f lows (whi ch do not involve congestion due to a lack of capacity at t he Mor ges East j uncti on) where reducti ons of 40 % wer e recor ded. T hi s st udy made it possi ble to concr etely eval uat e the improvem ents that can be achieved by t wo sol uti ons of com pl et ely dif f er ent charact eri st i cs concer ni ng i mpor tance, cost and impl icat ion. It also all owed com pari ng two types of str ategi es answer i ng a pr oblem of capacit y lack: t he i ncr ease of t he suppl y or a bet ter dem and m anagem ent.