AIMSUN2 simulation of a congested Auckland freeway

The Spanish AIMSUN2 microscopic traffic simulation package is being used to model a 9.7 km section of a congested urban freeway in Auckland, New Zealand. An outline of the model building process is presented along with selected findings. Flow profiles based on field data from a four-hour morning commuter traffic peak have been applied to the modelled network. Preliminary results show that modelled speed and flow relationships realistically reproduce those found in field data from the freeway. Exact reproduction of transient effects, such as time-varying lane utilisation ratios and queue lengths have not been fully achieved in the model. Further investigation into appropriate values for sensitive lane-change parameters are expected to improve this aspect of the model's performance.