Lane drops are a common bottleneck source on motorway networks. Congestion sets in upstream of a lane drop as a result of the lane changing activity of merging vehicles. This causes the queue discharge rate at the bottleneck to decrease and drop below the capacity, leading to capacity drop and further congestion. The objective of this study is to minimize the total travel time of the system by controlling lateral flows upstream of the lane drop. This is equivalent to maximizing the exit flows at the bottleneck. An optimization problem is formulated for a 3–2 lane drop section with high inflow. The problem is solved for different test cases where the direction of lateral flows being controlled is varied. An incentive based macroscopic model representing the natural lane changing scenario is used as a benchmark for comparison. The results showed that by influencing the lateral flows upstream of the bottleneck, the queue discharge rate increased by more than 4.5%. The total travel time of the system was consequently found to be reduced. The improvements in performance were primarily a result of the distribution of lane changing activity over space and the balancing of flow among the lanes which lead to the decrease in the severity of congestion. The findings reveal a potentially effective way to reduce the severity of congestion upstream of lane drop bottlenecks during high demand which could be implemented using roadside and in-car advisory systems.

车道下降是高速公路网络上常见的瓶颈源。由于合并车辆的车道变更活动，导致车道下降上游出现拥堵。这将导致瓶颈处的队列放电率降低并下降到容量以下，从而导致容量下降和进一步的拥塞。这项研究的目的是通过控制车道下降上游的侧向流量来最小化系统的总行驶时间。这等效于最大化瓶颈处的出口流量。针对流入量高的3–2车道下降段提出了一个优化问题。对于不同的测试用例，可以解决此问题，在这些用例中，要控制横向流的方向是变化的。代表自然车道变更场景的基于激励的宏观模型被用作比较的基准。结果表明，通过影响瓶颈上游的侧向流动，排队排放率提高了4.5％以上。结果发现该系统的总行程时间减少了。性能的提高主要是由于车道变更活动在空间上的分布以及车道之间流量的平衡导致了拥堵严重程度的降低。研究结果揭示了一种潜在的有效方法，可以减少在高需求期间车道下降瓶颈上游的拥堵严重程度，可以使用路边和车内咨询系统来实施。性能的提高主要是由于车道变更活动在空间上的分布以及车道之间流量的平衡导致了拥堵严重程度的降低。研究结果揭示了一种潜在的有效方法，可以减少在高需求期间车道下降瓶颈上游的拥堵严重程度，可以使用路边和车内咨询系统来实施。性能的提高主要是由于车道变更活动在空间上的分布以及车道之间流量的平衡导致了拥堵严重程度的降低。研究结果揭示了一种潜在的有效方法，可以减少在高需求期间车道下降瓶颈上游的拥堵严重程度，可以使用路边和车内咨询系统来实施。