Development and Validation of a Flexible , Open Architecture , Transportation Simulation

Simulation has been utilized in the planning and development of almost all sectors of the transportation field. The practicing transportation community primarily relies on simulation packages, as opposed to “ground up” simulation development. Unfortunately, the use of these simulation packages has several disadvantages, most notably the “black box” phenomenon and reduced modeling flexibility. The simulation approach described in this paper lays the foundation for a transportation simulation approach that minimizes the “black box” problem and increases modeling flexibility, while still providing an easy to use package in which highly capable models may be quickly and accurately built. This simulation approach utilizes SIMAN and ARENA. This paper includes a brief discussion of the simulation approach, a comparison of the proposed simulation and CORSIM simulation results for an intersection and an arterial, and a comparison of the proposed simulation control delay to delays collected for a twelve intersection grid north of downtown Chicago.