Free Seminar. "Freeway congestion, ramp metering, and tolls"

ANNOUNCEMENT. Institute of transportation studies, Univ of CA Berkeley

September 21: “Freeway congestion, ramp metering, and tolls”

Pravin Varaiya, Ph.D. Nortel Networks Distinguished Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, UC Berkeley

View Pravin Varaiya seminar announcement as a pdf.

The Cell Transmission Model of a freeway with multiple origins and destinations is used to compare four schemes to reduce freeway congestion: (R) ramp control only; (T) one lane is tolled and ramps are uncontrolled; (B) bottlenecks are tolled and ramps are uncontrolled; (RB) ramps are controlled and bottlenecks are tolled. In the base case no ramps are metered and there are no tolls. It is found that (T) is inefficient and likely to leave all travelers worse off than in the base case; (R), (B) and (RB) can achieve efficient freeway utilization; (B) can eliminate queues, but has adverse spatial and equity side effects; (RB) minimizes these side effects. (RB) is likely to be much less costly to implement and maintain than (T) or (B). Open to the public and free.

Sponsors include the Transportation Graduate Students’ Organizing Committee (TRANSOC), the Institute of Transportation Studies, the University of California Transportation Center and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California at Berkeley.

Date: Friday September 21, 2007
Time: 4-5 p.m.
Location: 240 Bechtel Engineering Center, UC Berkeley

Juice readers. Although I will not be attending this Seminar I will attempt to obtain any summary or handouts on this seminar topic that impacts all of us.

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