MATLAB

Traffic Modeling with

University Honors Program

Tessa Wiedmann, Colin Fralick,
Jacob Fedders, Christopher Stone

Objectives

Solution

Tolerance

Create a code that models how humans move through a

hallway
Design a way to control traffic in the hall to reduce the
frequency of traffic jams
Set a range of tolerances that can be applied depending on
the circumstances

Created a method to restrict traffic flow entering hall once

hall was filled past a specific proportion
When reached, the number of people entering is halved until
a value below the proportion is measured

The Table below is from running 1000 trials to find how often
the hall jams
The code was terminated if a jam was recorded
A jam corresponds to over 400 people in the hall

Introduction
When classes are released across campus there is a build up
of foot traffic
This code in MATLAB is capable of modeling this process on
a four way hallway
The rate people enter into the hall is modeled by a cosine
curve
New ways to optimize traffic flow were implemented

Hallway
filling up
Hallway Beginning to Fill

Operating
normally
Hallway Functioning Properly

Jammed

10

10

10

15

15

15

20

20

20

25

25

25

30

30

30

35

35

35

40

40

40

45

45

45

50

50

50
0

10

20

30

Dot destination key:

40

Cutoff
Ratio

Traffic Jam Formed

50 0

North

10

20

30

40

East

50 0

10

South

20

30

West

40

Figure 1: Visual display of hallway at various traffic conditions

Each dot has a pre-specified destination based on color
The title above the hall operationally defines the different
points in the hall operation

MATLAB Code Flowchart

Figure 2

Create: The program begins by creating an empty

hallway and enters the main loop

Figure 3
180

600

160
500

Generate: People are generated at a spawn rate that

is controlled by a wave function and the hall density

Number of People in Hallway

Number of People in Hallway

140
400

300

200

120
100
80
60
40

100

Display: The hall and all of the people in it are shown

on the plot

Exit: People who have reached their destinations are

removed from the hall

Actual
Rate Cut Level

Actual
0

Loop

Move: The people in the hall move according to

their current location, destination, and available
space to move

20

100

200

300

400
Time (s)

500

600

700

800

500

1000

Cutoff
Ratio
0.23
0.24
0.25
0.26
0.27
0.28
0.29
0.3
0.31
0.32
0.33
0.34
0.35

Number of Trials
where Jam Occurred
(out of 1000)
56
52
124
240
385
628
830
944
990
997
1000
1000
1000

Conclusion

Number of People in the Hallway

Number of People in the Hallway

50

0.1
0.11
0.12
0.13
0.14
0.15
0.16
0.17
0.18
0.19
0.2
0.21
0.22

Number of Trials
where Jam Occurred
(out of 1000)
23
22
23
19
18
13
11
14
9
12
12
15
23

1500

Time (s)

Graphs of total number of people in hall as code progresses.

Figure 2 shows hall without traffic regulation
Figure 3 demonstrates controlled traffic with a rate cut at a
proportion equal to 0.275
Color coding represents the hallway fill conditions shown in
Figure 1

A rate cutoff proportion of 0.18 had least amount of jams

The hall jams less than 10% of the time for any rate cutoff
proportion below 0.24
The hall jams over 25% of the time if the rate cutoff
proportion exceeds 0.27
Beyond a value of 0.33 the hall always jams and other factors
must be analyzed to solve the problem

References
More Traffic Modeling Projects:
http://math.mit.edu/projects/traffic/
More Traffic Modeling Software:
http://www.caliper.com/transmodeler/
http://www.trafficware.com/products/planninganalysis-software/