Practices for Operational Traffic Simulation Models

Transportation modeling applications can be divided into two categories: travel demand forecasting and operational modeling. Demand forecasting predicts future traffic volumes for long-term infrastructure investments; operational modeling focuses on specific problems at a near-term or finer level of detail (such as for improving the traffic signal timing along a corridor, identifying the causes of an existing bottleneck, assessing the mobility impacts of a planned construction project, or decision-making on alternative selection). NCHRP Synthesis 650: Practices for Operational Traffic Simulation Models, from TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program, documents state department of transportation processes and procedures for the use of operational traffic simulation models.