Towards smarter traffic control

How do individual behaviours influence the global performance of big traffic networks? Although traffic flow dynamics are well known at the local urban scale (few links and intersections), it is very difficult to apprehend congestion appearance and propagation directly at larger scales. Prof. Leclercq aims to bridge this gap by establishing a full set of interrelated multimodal traffic models able to capture drivers’ behaviours at city level.

To do so, he combines real-mobility data collected in partnership with local authorities in Lyon, France, with data gained from dynamic simulations or serious game sessions involving students. His team has developed and is currently experimenting with a simulation game based on a microscopic traffic simulator: this will make it possible to build a huge dataset to study individual mode and route choices in a control environment.

The models the team develops will be used to design and optimize traffic management strategies (TMS) with a tight focus on environmental concerns and multi-modality. Prof. Leclercq’s research is very timely: the growing availability of real-time traffic data, greater connectivity and automation in vehicles make traffic control via advanced TMS more feasible than in the past. Innovative traffic control applications could have large benefits for road users, and local authorities, as well as urban transport planners.

Ludovic Leclercq is Research Director at IFSTTAR and Professor of Traffic flow theory at the University of Lyon (France). His research covers multiscale dynamic traffic modelling and the related environmental externalities. He is a member of the International Symposium on Transportation and Traffic Theory (ISTTT) advisory committee and of several editorial boards of Transportation journals. He has co-authored 56 papers in journals and received his PhD in 2002.