A Study on the Stability of Traffic Flow under Variable Demand

It is shown that, in an initially homogeneous oversaturated traffic flow, a stable traffic flow will last forever, if the traffic demand changes with the travel time. Based on the dynamical simulation, a stable traffic flow under oversaturated is found. The results presented can explain the phenomenon of ``vehicles travel at low speed for prolonged periods" during rush hour, which is observed in real traffic flow in many big cities.