(Catherine Dottle, 1989)
This paper is a report on a simulation study of FM 1709, a Texas farm-to-market highway. The study considered the impact that increasing traffic flow rates will have on congestion on this road and what changes or improvements might occur if the road is widened.
A model of the road was developed which represented the stretch of FM 1709 between Pate-Orr Road in the east and Highway 114 in the west and contained five traffic signals. SIMAN was used for developing and running the simulation. A brief discussion of SIMAN is included in the report. The operation of the model is described in detail and a flow chart is provided.
Six treatments that were obtained by combining three levels of traffic flow with two model configurations were run for this study. The results that were obtained are disappointing in that problems with the program both in the coding and in the capacity that was available precluded acquiring meaningful average travel time data for comparison of the various treatments. However, time average data for the number of vehicles in the eastbound (main flow) queues are clearly indicative of worsening congestion in the one-lane model with increasing traffic levels, and it can be seen that the two-lane model is relatively free from these effects. Recommendations are then made concerning the need for widening FM 1709. Finally, there is a discussion of possible ways to improve this study so that better results can be achieved.