Lane closure caused by traffic incidents results in increasing travel time delay and excessive fuel usages. The intense lane changes of upstream vehicles also generate capacity drop and further increase the severity of road congestion. Connected vehicles, which can monitor the status of the incidents and provide real-time guidance for individual vehicles, bring a viable solution to minimize the impact of incidents. This paper evaluates an existing lane changing assistant (LCA) system, which manages connected vehicles passing road incidents effectively with minimal travel time delay as well as to mitigate road traffic congestion. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis of the LCA system is conducted in this paper to assess the impact of different system parameters, including control length and updating interval, and the optimal values of the system parameters are determined by the analysis. In addition, the system under different market penetration rates of connected vehicles, volume-to-capacity ratios, and incident settings are also evaluated to understand its benefits at different connected environments and traffic conditions. The results indicates that the system can reduce the travel time delays of all types of vehicles by up to 45% and significantly mitigate road congestion caused by road incidents.

CICTP