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SUMMARY:An Analysis of HOV Lanes: Their Impact on Traffic
DTSTART:20101021T121500
DTSTAMP:20260916T042510Z
UID:26fe8166691298da49e8542bb0cb74cfc87145b4f7cfbf673834158c
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Monica Menendez\, ETHZ\nDr. Menendez developed a simple mod
 el for car-following with lane-changing that matches field data with consi
 derable accuracy. The model is based only on physical principles and requi
 res few parameters. It uses very simple microscopic rules to reproduce the
  aggregate characteristics of traffic. The movement of any vehicle is only
  constrained by its mechanical properties\, driver comfort\, and safety. T
 he model is proved to be fail-safe\, e.g.\, it has no crashes independentl
 y of the deceleration bounds. The final product is used in micro-simulatio
 ns to study the impact that High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes have on tra
 ffic. \nHOV lanes are restricted-use freeway lanes reserved for vehicles w
 ith more than a predetermined number of occupants. Dr. Menendez's research
  examines the physics of HOV lanes placed on median lanes\, with open acce
 ss everywhere. HOV lanes can affect the capacity of freeway bottlenecks th
 rough both an under-utilization effect and a disruption effect. However\, 
 under some circumstances\, they can actually increase the flow of the adja
 cent general purpose lanes through a smoothing effect. This research sugge
 sts simple strategies to take advantage of that smoothing effect and incre
 ase the efficiency of the HOV lanes in general.\n\nMonica Menendez recentl
 y joined ETH Zurich as the Director of the Research Group "Traffic Enginee
 ring." Prior to that\, she was a Management Consultant at Bain & Company's
  San Francisco office. She joined Bain after receiving a PhD and an MS in 
 Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California\, Be
 rkeley in 2006. Her research interests include traffic flow theory and ope
 rations\, sustainable transportation\, and logistics.
LOCATION:GC A3 31
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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