System dynamics(SD) approach was applied to quantify the accumulation of traffic in the selected links during different periods of a typical weekday. The signal cycle adjustments to prioritize the LRT movement significantly affect the traffic in the North Tryon corridor. The accumulations of traffic in a link is calculated based on the inflow/outflow traffic volumes
Two links in the North Tryon travel corridor is selected for the SD assessment. Ceratain assumptions are made to apply the SD approach in this case
The traffic volume data for the year 2018(First month of LRT operation) was obtained from Charlotte Department of Transportation at 15-minute intervals. The entering and exiting volume corresponding to a link segment was sorted from the aforementioned data. Traffic volume balancing was performed based on the assumptions and guidelines from the ITE trip generation manual.
The system dynamics approach in this study is defined by the inflow/ outflow of traffic over specific time interval. The numerical integration of inflow and outflow defines the accumulation levels in a TMC. Further, the negative accumulation rates (not possible in any system) were carried over to the inflow rates and rebalanced the system.
System dynamics principles are widely employed to study the complex behaviour of a system over time. This macro-level simulation approach utilizes different tools and techniques to understand the dynamics of inflows and outflows in a complex system. The applicability of System dynamics approach to understand the real-world problems have mentioned by many researchers in the past. Present research was basically motivated by the sizing-rebalancing analysis conducted by Papanikolaou (2018) using system dynamics principles. Present study utilizes the system dynamics approach to study traffic accumulations in a roadway link (tmc) during different time periods of a typical weekday.
This study was mainly aimed at visualizing the accumulation levels in road segments(TMCs) due to LRT operation. For TMC 1, accumations were observed only in the morning peak hours 7.00AM-10.00AM. All other selected time frames, no accumulations were observed. In the case of TMC 2, the accumulations were seen for vast majority of the selected time periods. More detailed analysis is required to study the traffic dynamics and its changes due to LRT operation