METACOR: A Dynamic Macroscopic
Modeling Tool for Urban Corridor

H. HAJ-SALEM¹, N. ELLOUMI¹, M. PAPAGEORGIOU²

¹INRETS, 2 Av. du Gl. Malleret-Joinville 94114 Arcueil, France
e-mail: habib@inrets.fr
²Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece
e-mail: markos@dssl.tuc.gr

ABSTRACT

The paper describes a new integrated macroscopic simulation tool for simulating urban corridors traffic, including both motorway and urban road subnetworks of arbitrary topology. Named METACOR, this tool emerged from expansion and integration of two existing modeling tools METANET and SSMT for traffic flow on motorway networks and on urban networks respectively. In this paper, the basic equations including traffic assignment modeling of the two traffic models are described and the main characteristics of METACOR are outlined. METACOR has been validated on several sites on the basis of real traffic flow measurements selected under a broad spectrum of traffic conditions. The mathematical model is capable of describing complicated traffic phenomena with acceptable accuracy. A simulation program is used as a tool for testing of control strategies related to ramp metering, signal control and Variable Message Sign (VMS) control.