Simulation Modeling of Route Guidance Concept

School of Civil Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. The methodology of a simulation model developed at the University of New South Wales, Australia, for the evaluation of performance of Dynamic Route Guidance Systems (DRGS) is described. The microscopic simulation model adopts the event update simulation method and allows assessment of route guidance performance under different scenarios such as varying levels of participation in guidance technologies and different intensities of travel demand. This research is important for marketing, costing, and introducing route guidance and can assist planners in identifying suitable networks and traffic conditions for such systems. The example application investigates selected operating scenarios of intersection delay conditions under different compositions of participation rates in route guidance. Preliminary investigations indicate that the effectiveness of route guidance is related to the level of intersection delays. An interesting outcome of this application is the identification that in networks with intersection delays which vary with time, those motorists without guidance assistance strive to make better forecasts of travel time in order to assist their route selection. At low levels of intersection delays, some motorists appear to make more than one nonoptimal route selection.