A Study on the Efficiency of Traffic Flow Regarding the Characteristics of the Current Expressways Case Study: The Removal of Automatic Barriers at Art Narong, Port 1 and Sathupradit 1 Toll Plaza

Abstract

This study focuses on the efficiency of traffic flow regarding characteristics of the current expressways. The case study is about the removal of automatic barriers at Art Narong, Port 1 and Sathupradit 1. This study collects data from Electronic Toll Collection System (ETC), in the interest of researching, improving user convenience, and solving traffic congestion at tollbooth areas. The study shows that the service time requires approximately two seconds per vehicle, counting from when users stop to pay until they drive pass the tollbooth. This service time can be used to evaluate the maximum capacity of vehicles that can drive pass the tollbooth and the capability to manage the traffic flow. The result of the evaluation for the Manual Toll Collection System (MTC) is 360 vehicles per hour, similar to previous study which is 300-400 vehicles per hour, while the result for ETC (1 lane) is as good as 1,800 vehicles per hour. The data of the case study about the removal of automatic barriers at the three expressways is collected for 6 hours (6.00 AM - 12.00 AM) and compared with the real traffic volume on that day. Before and after the test date, there is about a percent increase in overall traffic volume: 1.42% for Art Narong, 2.16% for Sathupradit 1, and 0.33% for Port 1. The result after 3 workdays of testing indicates 1.3% increase in capability to manage traffic flow, which also increases traffic efficiency. However, this is still not at the highest possible performance, due to the different characteristics of the expressways and user behavior that tends to slow down when passing through the tollbooth. Moreover, this test also studies on the accuracy of automatic license plate detection system for detecting misbehavior of users.

Keywords: Flow efficiency, Cancellation of Automatic Barrier