Modelling of algorithms to improve RM system in England

The Highways Agency has installed ramp metering at over 80 sites in England, with evaluation results showing an average 13% reduction in journey times [1]. Despite the success of the existing system, some potential improvements have been identified. Due to the complexity of the algorithms, the improvements were modelled using the micro-simulation package VISSIM [2]. This paper describes the method and results of the modelling. The modelling exercise has shown that all the algorithms have worked as expected. It has also shown that all the algorithms designed could provide additional performance benefits over the existing system.