CONTRAM 5: AN ENHANCED TRAFFIC ASSIGNMENT MODEL

Abstract

CONTRAM 5 is the latest version of the Transport and Road Research Laboratory's traffic assignment program CONTRAM which models time varying traffic demands on urban and other road networks subject to capacity restraint and transient overload, and predicts the variation through time of the resulting routes, queues and delays. CONTRAM 5 contains many improvements to the original modelling and introduces some new facilities. The queues and delay models are compatible with those in the junction analysis programs ARCADY2, PICADY2 and OSCADY. The effects of signal coordination and geometric delay are modelled. Speed/flow relationships, compatible with those in COBA, can be used to represent traffic speeds on high-speed and limited-access roads and to represent the aggregate effect of delays in buffer networks. A revised model is used to estimate fuel consumption and the number of stops at junctions is estimated. The CONTRAM 5 program incorporates improved algorithms for loading and optimum route assignment of traffic and benefits from a major restructuring of the software compared to previous versions of CONTRAM. The need to re-configure the software for different networks is almost completely eliminated by the use of automatic array dimensioning. Methods of predicting memory use and run time have been established. The main text of the Report outlines and discusses the new and modified features of CONTRAM 5, while formal definitions of models and procedures are given in Appendices. This Report is complementary to RR 178 (CONTRAM: structure of the model. Leonard, Gower and Taylor 1989) and describes changes and features specific to CONTRAM 5. (A)

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