Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
ISST - Transport Systems
ISST - Transport Systems
TrafikPlan is a ‘dense network’ traffic model created for the design and evaluation of traffic management schemes and for the assessment of the traffic impacts of individual land use developments (Young, Taylor and Gipps (1989), Taylor (1992)). It can distinguish between different road classes and design standards, traffic control systems and devices, intersection designs and traffic management schemes and ITS technologies. TrafikPlan may be described as a software database package for the study of local area road networks, running on conventional personal computers. The database comprises details of the road layout, traffic control system, and traffic movements in the area. The package has powerful modelling capabilities that allow it to model travel times, delays and capacities in the study area, determine optimum paths for journeys through the area, and model the distribution of traffic by time of day. A TrafikPlan user can build a detailed description of the road network in a given area (such as a residential area, or the environs of a shopping centre), and then study traffic behaviour in that area (Taylor, 1992). Proposed changes to the area (such as new traffic management and control schemes, or new land use developments) can be tested, to determine their likely traffic impacts and to infer possible environmental impacts. In a recent study for FORS the model was used to examine the effects on mobility, energy consumption and air pollutant emissions of different speed limits on suburban roads (Taylor, 1997).
The TrafikPlan package is designed to provide a systematic planning and
impact assessment tool to aid traffic planners and engineers in the
planning, design and evaluation of the traffic system in a localised
area. The need for a such a tool may be seen from considerations of the
multi-variate nature of local area traffic behaviour, including:
(a) traffic movement (e.g. volumes and speeds) through the area;
(b) the physical layout of the area and the topological layout of the
street network in it;
(c) behavioural characteristics of road user groups (e.g. children,
drivers, parkers, cyclists);
(d) institutional influences and methods for the implementation of
traffic management plans;
(e) environmental impacts, including air, noise and visual pollution;
(f) traffic safety and perceptions of danger, and
(g) levels of accessibility and mobility within an through an area.
TrafikPlan is used at more than 125 sites in 14 countries. Recent
applications of the package to alternative network configurations for
residential areas – and the impacts on environmental quality including
air pollution – are described in Taylor (2000).
References
Taylor, M A P (1992). TrafikPlan User Manual. School of Civil
Engineering, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Taylor, M A P (1997). The effects of lower urban speed limits on
mobility, accessibility, energy and the environment: trade-offs with
increased safety. Report to Federal Office of Road Safety. ISST - Transport Systems, University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Taylor, M A P (2000). Using network reliability concepts for traffic
calming - permeability, approachability and tortuosity - in network
design. In Bell, M G H and Cassir, C (eds). Reliability of Transport
Networks. (Research Studies Press: Baldcock, Herts), pp.217-242.
Young, W, Taylor, M A P and Gipps, P G (1989). Microcomputers in Traffic
Engineering. (Research Studies Press: Taunton).
