Field data application of a non-lane-based multi-class traffic flow model

Multi-class traffic flow modelling has various approaches several of which have focused on analytical proofs. A key limitation in this field of research is the limited field data applications. This study proposes a speed-gradient-based multi-class second-order model and shows its application to three different road sections, a mid-block section, a section with a bottleneck, and a section with a signal at the end, in Chennai, India. The model captures the congestion formation and dissipation phenomena well and could predict outflow and speed fluctuations generally observed in the field scenarios accurately. The prediction of traffic flow dynamics by the proposed model is also observed to be better when compared with two existing higher-order multi-class models.