Traffic bottleneck characteristics caused by the reduction of lanes in an optimal velocity model

In this paper, the lane reduction bottleneck is investigated using the optimal velocity model, in which two kinds of vehicles (fast and slow) are introduced. The asymmetric lane changing rules in the slowdown section and the lane squeezing behaviors at the bottleneck are taken into account. Under the periodic boundary condition, the numerical simulations are performed. The traffic states change with increasing density. And an interesting phenomenon of ratio inversion appears. When the current saturates, the headway and velocity discontinuously vary with the position. In addition, traffic patterns and the phase transition points depend greatly on the speed limit and the length of the slowdown section. ► The lane reduction bottleneck is investigated with the optimal velocity model. ► The different lane changing rules in different sections are adopted. ► The lane squeezing behaviors at the merging point are taken into account. ► An interesting phenomenon of ratio inversion appears. ► Traffic patterns depend greatly on the characteristics of the slowdown section.