Stabilization of Traffic Flow by Speed Limit Adaptation

Abstract

Instability of traffic flow on high-ways leads to non-linear development of jams with detrimental consequences. In order to avoid them we try to formulate an optimal control law by which the flow could be stabilized. For this purpose we describe the influence of speed limit on the stable regime by a new fundamental law that is formulated based upon experimental data of traffic flow. The corresponding non-linear relation indicates how the speed limit has to be adapted to the traffic density in order to provide conditions for a stable flow.