A realistic two-lane traffic model for highway traffic.pdf

a r X i v : c o n d - m a t / 0 2 0 3 3 4 6 v 1 [ c o n d - m a t .s t a t - m e c h ] 1 7 M a r 2 0 0 2 A realistic two-lane traffic model for highway traffic W Knospe?, L Santen?, A Schadschneider§ and M Schreckenberg? ? Theoretische Physik FB 10, Gerhard-Mercator-Universita?t Duisburg, Lotharstr. 1, D-47048 Duisburg, Germany ?Fachrichtung Theoretische Physik, Universita?t des Saarlandes, Postfach 151150, 66041 Saarbru?cken, Germany § Institut fu?r Theoretische Physik, Universita?t zu Ko?ln, Zu?lpicher Str. 77, D-50937 Ko?ln, Germany PACS numbers: 45.70, 05.60, 02.50 Abstract. A two-lane extension of a recently proposed cellular automaton model for traffic flow is discussed. The analysis focuses on the reproduction of the lane usage inversion and the density dependence of the number of lane changes. It is shown that the single-lane dynamics can be extended to the two-lane case without changing the basic properties of the model which are known to be in good agreement with empirical single-vehicle data. Therefore it is possible to reproduce various empirically observed two-lane phenomena, like the synchronization of the lanes, without fine-tuning of the model parameters. 1. Introduction In [1] a cellular automaton model for traffic flow is proposed that is based on the Nagel and Schreckenberg (NaSch) model [2] and that is capable to reproduce all of the empirically observed traffic states [3, 4], i.e., free flow, wide moving jams and especially synchronized traffic (see [5, 6] for recent reviews on the modeling of traffic flow). Moreover, the accordance of the model with the empirics can be found even on a microscopic level of description. In [7] this degree of realism is underscored by considering a more realistic simulation setup, i.e., a simulation of a two-lane highway segment with an onramp. Empirical observations suggest [4, 8] that lane changes are responsible for the occurrence of strong correlations of the velocity and flow measurements between neig