A fuzzy-logic-based system for freeway bottleneck severity diagnosis in a sensor network

It is essential for local traffic jurisdictions to systematically spot freeway bottlenecks and proactively deploy appropriate congestion mitigation strategies. However, diagnostic results may be influenced by unreliable measurements, analysts’ subjective knowledge and day-to-day traffic pattern variations. In order to suitably address these uncertainties and imprecise data, this study proposes a fuzzy-logic-based approach for bottleneck severity diagnosis in urban sensor networks. A dynamic bottleneck identification model is first proposed to identify bottleneck locations, and a fuzzy inference approach is then proposed to systematically diagnose the severities of the identified recurring and non-recurring bottlenecks by incorporating expert knowledge of local traffic conditions. Sample data over a 1-month period on an urban freeway in Northern Virginia was used as a case study for the analysis. The results reveal that the proposed approach can reasonably determine bottleneck severities and critical links, accounting for both spatial and temporal factors in a sensor network.