IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transb/v196y2025ics0191261525000670.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capacity drop at active bottlenecks: An empirical study based on trajectory data

Author

Listed:
  • Han, Yu
  • Wu, Jiarui
  • Ding, Fan
  • Li, Zhibin
  • Liu, Pan
  • Leclercq, Ludovic

Abstract

Capacity drop, a traffic phenomenon indicating that the discharge flow from a queue is lower than the pre-queue flow, is commonly observed at freeway bottlenecks. In the literature, the majority of empirical studies on capacity drop rely on aggregated traffic flow data. To fully understand the mechanism behind capacity drop, it is essential to analyze trajectory data, which captures the microscopic behavior of individual vehicles. However, the availability of high-quality trajectory data covering both sufficient spatial and temporal scope is limited. Consequently, existing theories and mechanisms to explain capacity drop from the perspective of vehicle behavior are predominantly analytical, lacking direct evidence to validate their impacts on contributing to capacity drop. This paper fills this gap by conducting a comprehensive empirical analysis of capacity drop using high-resolution trajectory data extracted from videos recorded by unmanned aerial vehicles. The empirical analysis examines the relative effects of various capacity drop mechanisms and reveals the following findings: (i) The late responses of hesitant vehicles during the acceleration process significantly contribute to capacity drop; (ii) the impact of response delay on queue discharge rate is more pronounced at lower congestion speeds; (iii) response delays primarily result from deceleration during car-following, followed by lane changes, with their combined effect having a more pronounced triggering impact. These findings are subsequently validated using data collected from another site. The findings presented in this paper are valuable for developing more accurate microscopic traffic simulation models and designing more effective traffic management and control strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Han, Yu & Wu, Jiarui & Ding, Fan & Li, Zhibin & Liu, Pan & Leclercq, Ludovic, 2025. "Capacity drop at active bottlenecks: An empirical study based on trajectory data," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:196:y:2025:i:c:s0191261525000670
    DOI: 10.1016/j.trb.2025.103218
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261525000670
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.trb.2025.103218?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kai Yuan & Victor L. Knoop & Serge P. Hoogendoorn, 2017. "A Microscopic Investigation Into the Capacity Drop: Impacts of Longitudinal Behavior on the Queue Discharge Rate," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 852-862, August.
    2. Cassidy, Michael J. & Bertini, Robert L., 1999. "Some traffic features at freeway bottlenecks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 25-42, February.
    3. Leclercq, Ludovic & Laval, Jorge A. & Chiabaut, Nicolas, 2011. "Capacity drops at merges: An endogenous model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1302-1313.
    4. Wong, G. C. K. & Wong, S. C., 2002. "A multi-class traffic flow model - an extension of LWR model with heterogeneous drivers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 827-841, November.
    5. Chen, Danjue & Ahn, Soyoung, 2018. "Capacity-drop at extended bottlenecks: Merge, diverge, and weave," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-20.
    6. Chen, Danjue & Laval, Jorge & Zheng, Zuduo & Ahn, Soyoung, 2012. "A behavioral car-following model that captures traffic oscillations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 744-761.
    7. Oh, Simon & Yeo, Hwasoo, 2015. "Impact of stop-and-go waves and lane changes on discharge rate in recovery flow," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 88-102.
    8. Zheng, Zuduo & Ahn, Soyoung & Chen, Danjue & Laval, Jorge, 2011. "Applications of wavelet transform for analysis of freeway traffic: Bottlenecks, transient traffic, and traffic oscillations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 372-384, February.
    9. Tian, Junfang & Jiang, Rui & Jia, Bin & Gao, Ziyou & Ma, Shoufeng, 2016. "Empirical analysis and simulation of the concave growth pattern of traffic oscillations," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 338-354.
    10. Coifman, Benjamin & Kim, Seoungbum, 2011. "Extended bottlenecks, the fundamental relationship, and capacity drop on freeways," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 980-991, November.
    11. Rudjanakanoknad, Jittichai, 2005. "Increasing Freeway Merge Capacity Through On-Ramp Metering," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt3js9x18d, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    12. Yeo, Hwasoo, 2008. "Asymmetric Microscopic Driving Behavior Theory," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt1tn1m968, University of California Transportation Center.
    13. Cassidy, Michael J. & Rudjanakanoknad, Jittichai, 2005. "Increasing the capacity of an isolated merge by metering its on-ramp," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 896-913, December.
    14. Laval, Jorge A. & Toth, Christopher S. & Zhou, Yi, 2014. "A parsimonious model for the formation of oscillations in car-following models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 228-238.
    15. Laval, Jorge A. & Daganzo, Carlos F., 2006. "Lane-changing in traffic streams," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 251-264, March.
    16. Jin, Wen-Long, 2010. "A kinematic wave theory of lane-changing traffic flow," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(8-9), pages 1001-1021, September.
    17. Newell, G. F., 2002. "A simplified car-following theory: a lower order model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 195-205, March.
    18. Xu, Tu & Laval, Jorge, 2020. "Statistical inference for two-regime stochastic car-following models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 210-228.
    19. Laval, Jorge A. & Leclercq, Ludovic, 2008. "Microscopic modeling of the relaxation phenomenon using a macroscopic lane-changing model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 511-522, July.
    20. Chen, Danjue & Ahn, Soyoung & Laval, Jorge & Zheng, Zuduo, 2014. "On the periodicity of traffic oscillations and capacity drop: The role of driver characteristics," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 117-136.
    21. Chung, Koohong & Rudjanakanoknad, Jittichai & Cassidy, Michael J., 2007. "Relation between traffic density and capacity drop at three freeway bottlenecks," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 82-95, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kai Yuan & Victor L. Knoop & Serge P. Hoogendoorn, 2017. "A Microscopic Investigation Into the Capacity Drop: Impacts of Longitudinal Behavior on the Queue Discharge Rate," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(3), pages 852-862, August.
    2. Chen, Danjue & Ahn, Soyoung, 2018. "Capacity-drop at extended bottlenecks: Merge, diverge, and weave," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 1-20.
    3. Oh, Simon & Yeo, Hwasoo, 2015. "Impact of stop-and-go waves and lane changes on discharge rate in recovery flow," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 88-102.
    4. Han, Youngjun & Ahn, Soyoung, 2018. "Stochastic modeling of breakdown at freeway merge bottleneck and traffic control method using connected automated vehicle," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 146-166.
    5. Yibing Wang & Long Wang & Xianghua Yu & Jingqiu Guo, 2023. "Capacity Drop at Freeway Ramp Merges with Its Replication in Macroscopic and Microscopic Traffic Simulations: A Tutorial Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-27, January.
    6. Chen, Danjue & Ahn, Soyoung & Laval, Jorge & Zheng, Zuduo, 2014. "On the periodicity of traffic oscillations and capacity drop: The role of driver characteristics," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 117-136.
    7. Xu, Tu & Laval, Jorge, 2020. "Statistical inference for two-regime stochastic car-following models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 210-228.
    8. Tang, Qing & Hu, Xianbiao & Lu, Jiawei & Zhou, Xuesong, 2021. "Analytical characterization of multi-state effective discharge rates for bus-only lane conversion scheduling problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 106-131.
    9. Jin, Wen-Long, 2013. "A multi-commodity Lighthill–Whitham–Richards model of lane-changing traffic flow," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 361-377.
    10. Kontorinaki, Maria & Spiliopoulou, Anastasia & Roncoli, Claudio & Papageorgiou, Markos, 2017. "First-order traffic flow models incorporating capacity drop: Overview and real-data validation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 52-75.
    11. Tian, Junfang & Li, Guangyu & Treiber, Martin & Jiang, Rui & Jia, Ning & Ma, Shoufeng, 2016. "Cellular automaton model simulating spatiotemporal patterns, phase transitions and concave growth pattern of oscillations in traffic flow," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 93(PA), pages 560-575.
    12. Zheng, Zuduo, 2014. "Recent developments and research needs in modeling lane changing," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 16-32.
    13. Ngoduy, D., 2021. "Noise-induced instability of a class of stochastic higher order continuum traffic models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 260-278.
    14. Dong, Sheng & Li, Xiaonan & Ding, Wenlong & Chen, Feng & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "A method for estimating vehicle delays at parking lot exits in urban networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 656(C).
    15. Laval, Jorge A. & Toth, Christopher S. & Zhou, Yi, 2014. "A parsimonious model for the formation of oscillations in car-following models," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 228-238.
    16. Yao, Handong & Li, Qianwen & Li, Xiaopeng, 2020. "A study of relationships in traffic oscillation features based on field experiments," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 339-355.
    17. He, Zhengbing & Zheng, Liang & Guan, Wei, 2015. "A simple nonparametric car-following model driven by field data," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 185-201.
    18. Zhou, Zhi & Li, Linheng & Qu, Xu & Ran, Bin, 2024. "PACC: A platoon-based adaptive cruise control strategy based on leader-following information topology to mitigate traffic oscillations under CAV environment," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 654(C).
    19. Hall, Jonathan D., 2018. "Pareto improvements from Lexus Lanes: The effects of pricing a portion of the lanes on congested highways," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 113-125.
    20. Liu, Wei & Yin, Yafeng & Yang, Hai, 2015. "Effectiveness of variable speed limits considering commuters’ long-term response," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 498-519.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:transb:v:196:y:2025:i:c:s0191261525000670. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/548/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.