JOURNAL OF TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMS ENGINEERING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Volume 8, Issue 4, August 2008
Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69. RESEARCH PAPER

Simulation on Impact of Information Guidance

on Regional Traffic Flow
GAO Liping1, LIU Mingjun1, SUN Zhuangzhi2, MAO Baohua1,*

1 State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
2 Beijing Transportation Research Center, Beijing 100055, China

Abstract: The traffic flow information guidance can improve the operating efficiency of regional traffic. On the basis of the
information guidance model and survey data, this paper takes advantage of the VISSIM software to simulate the traffic in a region
within the Southwest Second Ring of Beijing constructed by six roads and six intersections and makes a comparative evaluation on
the operation of the regional road traffic flow before and after the implementation of the traffic flow information guidance measures.
The analysis of five different guided flow cases shows that if the guided left-turn traffic flows in southbound I.A increases from 10%
to 30%, the travel time of the left-turn traffic flow in southbound I.A has a reduction from 18% to 42%, and its delay also reduces
from 234 s to 164 s. In the circumstance of ensuring less traffic jam on the other sections of this region, the left-turn traffic jam in the
southbound I.A can be effectively mitigated.

Key Words: traffic flow; information guidance; traffic simulation; evaluation

1 Introduction various advanced traffic management and organization

The rapid growth of motor vehicles owned brings
considerable pressure to road traffic. As a capital, Beijing has
got a relatively developed urban expressway network.
However, as compared with a similar scale city, such as
London, the length of the roads per capita in the central urban
area is 4.64 km/10000 persons (2005), far lower than 18.6
km/10000 persons (2000) of Greater London[1]. Furthermore,
the transport infrastructure system still bears the increasing
travel demand with a relatively lower level of service.
According to the floating car data in 2006, the vehicle speed
of Beijing’s road network dropped continually, and among
them, the vehicle speed on the main roads of the Second Ring
dropped by 0.3 km/h as compared with 2005 while the highest
rate of increase in traffic volume in peak hours all day reached
26% as compared with 2005[2]. Therefore, at present, under
the circumstance of considerable difficulties in large-scale
road construction in Beijing, it is necessary to proportion the
spatial layout of trunk road system, take full advantage of the
existing sub trunk roads and branch roads, focus on the
improvement of the “microcirculation” system, and adopt
techniques, so as to promote the normal play of the overall
performance of the road network, improve the transport
efficiency, and relieve the traffic jam.
Traffic organization, which is unforeseeable to some extent,
is a complex system with wide range involved and great
difficulty for practice. Computer simulation, marked by low
cost and good intuitive performance, can make a prior
evaluation on the traffic organization measures on the virtual
road network, and effectively prevent the consequences
caused by the implementation of invalid measures[3–5]. This
paper, by analyzing the parameters of the regional traffic
operation and designing relevant evaluation models, evaluates
the operation of road network traffic before and after the
implementation of the traffic flow information guidance
system in a region of Beijing with the VISSIM software.
2 Modeling of regional traffic flow information
guidance
2.1 Simulation of regional traffic flow guidance
Advanced traffic information system (ATIS)[6] is a

Received date: Apr 17, 2008; Revised date: Jul 12, 2008; Accepted date: Jul 17, 2008
*Corresponding author. E-mail: bhmao@bjtu.edu.cn
Copyright © 2008, China Association for Science and Technology. Electronic version published by Elsevier Limited. All rights reserved.
 GAO Liping et al. / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69
technology with comprehensive utilization of the modern GIS
(geographic information system) technology, network
technology, monitoring technology, and communication
technology to guide the road users to arrive at the destinations
successfully, so as to realize the optimization of the traffic
flow, prevent the traffic jams, and manage the modern traffic
in a more effective way. The ATIS includes the generation
and release of guidance information. The generation of
guidance information covers information collection, path
guidance algorithm, etc., whereas the release of guidance
information, as the interface between the ATIS and the guided
objects, is to serve the travelers and the in-transit vehicles. At
present, the common forms of the advanced traffic
information include the fixed model-like fixed message signs,
variable group guidance model, such as traffic radio, variable
massage signs, and traffic information Websites, and variable
individual guidance model, such as in-car guidance screen and
mobile phones. The purpose of the guidance information is to
affect the routing of the travelers and manage and control road
network traffic.
The simulation of the regional traffic flow guidance
information, featured by intuition, correctness, and
convenience, is a traffic analysis technology that uses the
computer-based mathematical model to reflect the effects of
regional information guidance. Through the simulation study
on the regional traffic organization before and after the
guidance, we may arrive at the distribution law that the state
variables of traffic flow vary with time and space, and the
relations between such law and the traffic control variables,
recurring or grasping before the behaviors of the existing or
future traffic system, in order to infer the true performance of
this system. With the rapid development of computer
technologies, using the computer simulation method to study
issues concerning road traffic has become one of the research
hot spots in traffic engineering field. In the engineering
practice area, many people pay their attention to simulation
technology and study the regional traffic flow information
guidance system[7] by simulation technology in combination
with the existing traffic flow and traffic planning theories and
methods. This paper adopts VISSIM to make the simulation
study on the effects of the regional traffic flow guidance.
2.2 VISSIM simulation model
VISSIM is a micro-traffic flow simulation software system
developed by the PTV and is used to analyze the
microoperation of the traffic system[8]. It can simulate and set
the traffic operation situation composed by different road
types, traffic compositions, and signal controls and is also
widely used in traffic network analysis, evaluation and
optimization, and comparison of designs as an effective tool to
analyze traffic problems.
The basis for VISSIM is the psycho-physical car-following
model proposed by Wiedemann. This model considers the
driver-vehicle-units as a unity and divides the drivers’
following state into four car-following characteristics. It
simulates the traffic flow by moving the driver-vehicle-units
in the traffic network, and the vehicles move in the ways
customized by users or determined by the data input from the
VISSIM.
The car-following model proposed by Wiedemann is one of
the most accurate models applied to the computer traffic
simulation up to today. Therefore, from this perspective, the
micro-traffic simulation software VISSIM developed on the
basis of the theory should be able to authentically reflect and
recur the actual traffic situation and have a wide practical
value. Indeed, the traffic composition of China is different
from foreign countries. In foreign countries, cars remain
dominant, whereas in China bus service dominates, which,
however, does not exert any impact on the application of this
software in China. VISSIM software not only takes into
specially detailed account of the composition and operating
characteristics of the bus service but also makes a
consideration of the bicycles and pedestrians in the traffic
flow composition. However, everything has two sides. The
particularity of the traffic model of this software and the
diversity of the traffic composition simulated increase in the
consumption of the computer hardware resources (particularly
conspicuous during 3-D simulation); accordingly, they put
forward high requirements to the computer hardware.
Nevertheless, with the development of the network technology,
multiprocessor technology and parallel computing technology,
this shortcoming will become more and more insignificant.
2.3 Software modules and functions
In this paper, we adopt the VISSIM 3.60 version. This
software system is mainly constituted by vehicle definition
module, vehicle speed distribution module, car-following
module, driving behavior module, lane-changing module, and
traffic volume definition module; moreover, it makes these
modules have the functions of simulating and analyzing the
operation of motor vehicles in the sections and intersections,
reflecting the traffic status quo and problems through 2-D and
3-D demo, and quantitatively outputting the evaluation results
on the subjects of traffic, providing policy support for traffic
design, planning, and reconstruction.
The regional traffic guidance simulation is mainly to
simulate the operation characteristics[9] of regional traffic flow
under different guidance conditions and evaluate the results
obtained by different guidance facilities. Presently,
researchers with regard to traffic guidance mainly tend to do
research concerning ATIS[10], whereas researches regarding
specific implementation impacts are relatively fewer in
number. For this reason, this paper combines the functions of
the VISSIM simulation software to make the simulation study
on the effects of regional traffic flow guidance and make an
evaluation on the guidance measures.
 GAO Liping et al. / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69

Beijing is considered as the simulation example. As shown in

Fig. 1, the region is surrounded by six sections from R.1 to
R.6 with an area of 0.42 km2, in which R.1 refers to a metro
section at east-west direction with the highest road grade and
the greatest traffic demand and supply capacity; R.2 and R.3
refer to the trunk road and sub-trunk road, respectively, both
being at south-north direction and having less traffic flow than
R.1, and R.4–R.6 refer to branch roads with the least lanes and
the minimum traffic pressure.
For the road grades, lane number, widths, lengths, and
peak-hour section volume (7:30–8:30 on Sep.13, 2007) of
R.1–R.6 within the region, please see Table 1.
Fig. 1 Location of study region
R.1-R.6 intersect with each other to form six intersections,
in which I.A and I.B are the major signalized intersections
Table 1 Road situation of study region
Lane Section
with considerable traffic flow, the left-turn traffic jam in
Length
Road Grade Lane No. width
(m)
flow southbound I.A being the most serious; I.c–I.f are the small
(m) (pcu/h)
Arterial 10
T-shaped crossings (I.c and I.e are unsignalized while I.d and
R.1 3.0 846 5 130
road (two-way) I.f are signalized).
Arterial 8
R.2
road (two-way)
3.0 469 4 094 For the flow inlet data of the research in I.A and I.B within
R.3
Secondary 6
3.0 521 2 537
the region in the morning peak hour from 7:30 to 9:30 on
road (two-way)
Branch 2
September 13, 2007, see Table 2. In the morning peak hours,
R.4 2.7 840 563
road (two-way) the west-eastbound traffic flow in R.1 was the greatest, and
Branch 2
R.5
road (two-way)
2.5 432 179 the straight-through traffic flow in the westbound inlets of I.A
R.6
Branch 2
2.5 412 214
and I.B was obvious, but owing to the high grade of the road,
road (two-way)
a great number of lanes, less than 800 pcu traffic flow of
Note: The data are collected at 7:30–8:30, Sep. 13, 2007.
single lane, and signal timing impact, the jam in R.1 was not
obvious. Meanwhile, the eastbound and southbound inlets of
3 Simulation of status quo of regional
these two intersections had the similar situations, i.e.,
traffic flow
relatively smooth traffic operation and low degree of jams.
3.1 Overview of study region The situation in southbound inlet of these two intersections
In this study, a region within the southwest second ring of was different. The traffic flow and lane number in southbound

Table 2 Motor vehicle volume in a.m. peak hours in I.A and I.B
I.A I.B
Inlet Direction Total flow Number of Single lane flow Total flow Number of Single lane flow
(pcu/h) lanes (pcu/h.ln) (pcu/h) lanes (pcu/h.ln)
East Turn right 224 1 224 600 1 600
Straight through 1 102 3 367 1 226 3 409
Turn left 188 1 188 186 1 186
Total 1 514 5 303 2 012 5 402
West Turn right 698 1 698 612 1 612
Straight through 2 238 3 746 2 180 3 727
Turn left 112 1 112 530 1 530
Total 1 442 5 288 3 322 5 664
South Turn right 590 1 590 794 1 794
Straight through 648 2 324 1 318 3 439
Turn left 676 1 676 1 398 2 699
Total 1 914 4 479 3 510 6 585
North Turn right 68 1 68 480 1 480
Straight through 268 1 268 1 086 2 543
Turn left 98 2 49 284 2 142
Total 434 4 109 1 850 4 463
Note: Data was collected at 7:30-8:30 a.m., Sep. 13, 2007.
 GAO Liping et al. / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69
I.B
R.2
(a) Interface of simulation
Fig. 2 Status quo simulation of study region
I.A both accounted for 2/3 of I.B; however, the number of
left-turn lanes was half of I.B, so the left-turn traffic operation
in southbound I.A was a little worse than I.B. Although the
left-turn traffic flow in southbound I.A was up to 676 pcu/h,
the unsmooth left-turn traffic operation in the southbound inlet
that resulted by the less excursive left-turn lanes and shorter
time of the green light disturbed the straight-through traffic
flow and even exerted its impact on I.d.
The traffic situation in I.B and the other small crossings was
relatively better.
3.2 Evaluation of status quo simulation
According to the basic situation and flow direction of each
intersection, we build the traffic simulation model for this
region and simulate the status quo of the traffic flow, and the
interface is shown in Fig. 2(a). The traffic jam in the
southbound I.A is shown in Fig. 2(a).
This paper aims at the problems regarding the traffic
congestion of left-turning flow from the southbound I.A to I.B
in the peak hours. Through the simulation process above, we
have obtained the indicators including the passage quantity,
length of queues, delay, and travel time of the straight through
and left-turn traffic flows on the sections with 100 m distance
from the southbound I.A to the northbound I.A and from the
southbound I.A to the westbound I.A by VISSIM, as showed
in Table 3.
Table 3 shows that the straight-through traffic operation
was better than the left-turn flow in southbound I.A. For the
two straight-through lanes, the vehicle passage quantity was
up to 611 vel/h, and the longest length of vehicle queues
reached 109 m, equivalent to a queue of 17 cars. And the
average length was up to 65 m, equivalent to a queue of 11
cars. The travel time was 195.3 s, and the delay was 134.6s.
Table 3 Indicators of status quo evaluation in southbound I.A
Vehicle
Length of queue (m)
Lane passage Travel time (s)
function quantity Longest Average
(vel/h)
Straight
611 109 65 195.3
through
Turn
490 239 189 285.9
left
I.A
R.4
I.A
R.3
R.3
(b) Traffic jam in southbound, I.A
While for the left-turn traffic flow on the only one lane, the
vehicle passage quantity was 490 vel/h. As affected by the
signals, the longest length of the queues might reach 239 m,
equivalent to a queue of 39 cars, that is, 22 more vehicles than
the straight-through lanes. The average length was 189 m,
equivalent to a queue of 32 cars, which was as 2.9 times as
that of straight-through lanes; the travel time of the left-turn
traffic flow was 285.9 s, which was as 1.46 times as that of
straight-through lanes; affected by this, the vehicle delay was
up to 237.4 s, which approached 4 min and was as 1.76 times
as that of straight-through lanes.
4 Information guidance simulation
4.1 Information guidance measures
In order to improve the unsmooth of left-turning flow
operation in the southbound I.A, in the light of the high grade
of R.2, the good traffic operation in southbound I.B, and the
less traffic flow in R.4, R.5, and R.6, we should take the
information guidance measures so that the R.4, R.5+R.6
branch roads can partake in some left-turn traffic flow of I.A
so as to relieve the traffic jam. Furthermore, we may use the
fixed message boards to give prompts to partial left-turn
traffic flow in order to achieve guidance. The specific measure
is to erect the fixed message signs at R.3 for direction to R.4
and R.5+R.6 through I.c and I.d.
As a matter of fact, drivers’ response to the information
guidance is different from each other. Some vehicle OD
(origin–destination) is fixed within the region, so the route
cannot be changed. While in the left-turn traffic flow whose
route is variable, drivers might have the extreme response or
gathering response to the information. Both of these two
circumstances may lead to the extremes in the road traffic. In
case of extreme response, a number of drivers accept the
Delay information guidance and follow the advices of guidance,
(s)
which may transfer the traffic jam in one section to another,
134.6 even cause an oscillation phenomenon on the used roads.
Similarly, in the event of aggregation response, a mass of
237.4
drivers may choose the best travel route in the light of the
 GAO Liping et al. / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69

actual road network traffic information; hence, drivers who Table 4 Travel time of traffic guidance measure improvement
programs
may have similar preferences will gather in the same route at
Guided Travel time
the same travel time. Therefore, overmuch traffic information Indicator Location (C-S)/S
flow (s)
may lead to more serious traffic jam. Status I.A* 0% 285.9 -
4.2 Evaluation of measures simulation R.4 0% 80.3 -
R5+R6 0% 94.3 -
(1) Scene setting
Case 1 I.A* –10% 234.1 –18.12%
Considering drivers’ different responses to the fixed
R.4 10% 84.5 5.23%
message signs, it is quite difficult to grasp the traffic route R5+R6 0% 95.1 0.85%
selection of drivers affected in the simulation. In this case, we Case 2 I.A* –30% 164.2 –42.57%
suppose that 10% and 30% of the vehicles in the left-turn R.4 30% 123.6 53.92%
traffic flow in I.A follow the guidance of fixed message signs R5+R6 0% 101.3 7.42%
to realize the diffluence to R.4, R.5, and R.6, respectively, Case 3 I.A* –10% 235.1 –17.77%
R.4 0% 80.5 0.25%
which are divided into five cases below:
R5+R6 10% 101.2 7.32%
Case 1: using I.c to shunt 10% of the left-turn traffic flow in
Case 4 I.A* –30% 157.2 –45.02%
southbound I.A to R.4; R.4 0% 84.3 4.98%
Case 2: using I.c to shunt 30% of the left-turn traffic flow in R5+R6 30% 139.7 48.14%
southbound I.A to R.4; Case 5 I.A* –30% 154.2 –46.07%
Case 3: using I.d to shunt 10% of the left-turn traffic flow in R.4 15% 98.9 23.16%
southbound I.A to R.5+R.6; R5+R6 15% 110.4 17.07%

Case 4: using I.c to shunt 30% of the left-turn traffic flow in
southbound I.A to R.5+R.6;
Case 5: using I.c and I.d to respectively shunt 15% of the
left-turn traffic flow in southbound I.A to R.4 and R.5+R.6,
aggregating 30%.
(2) Results evaluation
By the simulation of the status quo of the region and the
information guidance programs, we have obtained such
evaluation indicators as travel time and delay, so as to analyze
how well the fixed message signs improve the left-turn traffic
operation in the southbound I.A.
In the simulation of information guidance programs, the
evaluation section of I.A is situated in the section with the
same location and length as the status quo simulation, and the
indicators obtained, such as travel time and delay of the
left-turn traffic flow, may help us to evaluate how well the
guidance proportions can improve this intersection;
furthermore, we take 200 m section from R.4 and R.5+R6,
respectively, and evaluate the impact of all kinds of guidance
programs on these sections with the indicators, such as the
travel time and delay of the traffic flow on these three test
sections.
The simulation analysis of the status quo of the cases above
and the improvement effects of the information guidance
programs are shown in Table 4.
Table 4 and Fig. 3 show us that the travel time and delay of
the vehicles in southbound I.A reduce as the proportion of the
guided flow increases. If the traffic flow reduces by 10%, the
travel time will reduce by 18% and the delay will reduce to
189 s. What’s more, if the traffic follow reduces by 30%, the
travel time will reduce by 42% and the delay will approach
100 s. The phenomena indicate that traffic guidance diffluence
may effectively relieve the traffic jam in southbound I.A.
Note: I.A* refers to the left-turn traffic flow in southbound I.A.
Delay (s) Delay (s)
R.4 R5+R6 I.A*
120 240
90 180
60 120
30 60
0 0
Status Case 1 Case 2 Case 3 Case 4 Case 5
Fig. 3 Delayed time of traffic guidance measure improvement
programs
Meanwhile, for R.4, R.5, and R.6 that partake in the guided
flow, with the raise of the proportion of the guided flow, the
travel time and delay will both increase significantly. When
partaking 10% of the guided flow, the travel time on R.4 and
R.5+R.6 will increase by 5.23% and 7.32%, respectively;
when partaking 30%, the travel time on R.4 and R.5+R.6 will
both increase by 50% or so. This is because R.4 and R.5+R.6,
as the branch roads, cannot undertake large-scale traffic
volume. While when R.4 and R.5+R.6 partake in the guided
traffic flow at the same time, there will be little difference
between the relieving degree of I.A. When I.A undertakes the
flow by itself, much impact is reduced on these two cases.
Even when R.4 and R.5+R.6 partake in 15% of the guided
traffic flow, respectively, the increase of delay is less than
25%. It is obvious that Case 5 can effectively relieve the
problem of left-turning flow in the southbound I.A with the
minimum impact on the other roads. On the face of it, the
proper use of branch roads will play a considerable role in
relieving the urban traffic congestion and improving the use
 GAO Liping et al. / J Transpn Sys Eng & IT, 2008, 8(4), 63í69
ratio of roads; whereas the traffic flow information guidance is
one of the effective ways to achieve this purpose.
By the simulation study on the fixed message signs, we find
that the traffic information guidance has the risk that overdone
is worse than undone; therefore, only the good combination of
variable group and individual traffic flow guidance
instruments can achieve effective management and control of
the regional road network traffic.
5 Conclusions
Traffic information guidance is an effective measure to
improve the operation efficiency and relieve the traffic
congestion in the regional traffic organization. On the basis of
the introduction of the traffic flow information guidance, this
paper proposes an modeling simulation for the traffic flow
guidance measures and takes a region of Beijing as an
example to simulate the traffic status quo. Aiming at
left-turning congestions, we bring forward the measures of
erecting fixed message boards in the southbound I.A within
the region and simulate five cases set about the distribution of
guided traffic flow and compares the status quo. Finally, we
reach the following conclusions:
(1) The traffic guidance measures can effectively improve
the traffic jam. When the diffluence of left-turning vehicles in
the southbound I.A increases from 10% to 30%, the travel
time will reduce from 18% to 42% and the delay will reduce
from 234 s to 164 s. Thus, the improvement effects are
significant.
(2) Low-grade sections’ capacity to support the guided flow
is relatively smaller while their resultant force is relatively
greater. When the guided left-turn traffic flow in the
southbound I.A increases from 0% to 30%, if R.4 and
R.5+R.6 partake in the guided flow independently, their travel
time will increase by 53.92% and 48.14%, respectively. If
they both share this flow out equally, their travel time has an
increase of 23.16% and 17.07%, which is less than half of the
degree in the previous situation.
Traffic information guidance, increasing the utilization rate
of traffic resources and promoting the reasonable distribution
of regional traffic flow, is one of the effective policies for
traffic management departments and governments to solve
traffic problems. As for future research, we will focus on
drivers’ reactions to the guidance information and its
influence on road networks under the conditions of high-load
road networks.
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