Completed Projects
Ongoing Projects
Microsimulation of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Plan: Impact Assessment of Roadway Configuration Alternatives
The City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and the Government of Canada have created a Waterfront Development Corporation to oversee the redevelopment of Toronto’s waterfront as a mixed-use, people-oriented area. A major issue in this redevelopment is the road network, which currently cuts the City off from Lake Ontario. Removal or reconfiguration of the elevated Gardiner Expressway has been contemplated for decades. The Corporation needed to come to grips with whether a reconfigured, affordable road network could still serve the needs of the City while providing the opportunity for waterfront enhancement. This is an extensive area, covering approximately 20 kilometres of lakefront.
To thoroughly assess the utility of alternative road networks, IntelliCAN developed a large scale micro-simulation operational model of the Toronto waterfront. The model was developed using Paramics. Both a.m. and p.m. weekday peak hours were modelled. The timeframe for the project and limited data availability resulted in the need to apply a number of innovative processes to derive the trip matrices and calibrate the model to existing conditions. The existing configuration was modelled as a benchmark for measuring performance of the future alternatives.
The micro-simulation results fed into the larger multi-disciplinary process of assessment of the alternatives for the waterfront, addressing factors such as the Corporation’s business plan, urban design, and access for transit and pedestrians.
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Assessment of Transit Priority Impacts for The 504 King Streetcar Route: An Integrated Transit and Traffic Microsimulation Approach
This project focused on quantifying the impacts of various transit priority schemes for the streetcar operation along King Street in Downtown Toronto. The study relied on developing an integrated traffic and transit microsimulation model which served as a testbed for the analysis. Four scenarios were analyzed, including the status quo (involving existing transit signal priority), the elimination of transit signal priority, the prohibition of all left-turning traffic and finally the prohibition of general traffic from King St. In order to quantify the impact of any of the above scenarios, a set of common measures of effectiveness was used as detailed above including transit travel time and speed, headways, service frequency and person throughput, bunching, fleet size implications and overall traffic and transit average speeds.
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St. Clair Avenue West Transit Improvements: Class Environmental Assessment
A Class Environmental Assessment was undertaken to identify and evaluate the options for improvements to the streetcar service which recognizes the needs of other road users and reflects the revitalization objectives of the communities along the St. Clair Avenue.
A significant issue in the development and comparison of the design concepts was the implications for traffic operations along and around St. Clair Avenue West. In order to ensure that traffic flows and operations were assessed in detail, IntelliCAN was invited by the city to develop a state-of-the-art traffic microsimulation model of the St. Clair Avenue West study area which reflects the details of traffic movement on St. Clair Avenue West and roads in surrounding neighborhoods.
The model is able to measure changes in travel speeds, travel times, delays, traffic diversion, and congestion based on different intersection designs, changes in access, availability of parking, new traffic signals, etc.
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Development of a Comprehensive Microsimulation Model for the 407 ETR
IntelliCAN has modeled a “virtual 407ETR” using microscopic simulation. The model is intended to enable the 407ETR management team to plan and evaluate freeway management and control strategies prior to any costly deployment. It is applicable across the entire range of improvements; from geometric changes, to control strategies to policy changes. The project intended to develop a large-scale model for the entire 407ETR in the GTA in two stages. Stage I focused on a central fifteen-kilometer segment of the 407 between Highway 400 and Highway 404. The 407ETR management team is currently evaluating the model, and if deemed useful then the second stage would commence. Stage II would complete the modeling of the full length of the freeway.
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TSP-Sim: Microsimulation Module for the TSP Algorithms of the Toronto Transit Commission
The purpose of this study is to develop a generic microsimulation-based module that replicates the Transit Signal Priority (TSP) algorithms employed by the Toronto Transit Commission. The module (referred to as “TSP-Sim” hereinafter) was developed within the microsimulation software Vissim. An important feature of TSP-Sim is its capability of automatically applying one or more of the TTC’s green extension, red truncation, and offset recovery algorithms to the associated signalized intersection. In addition, TSP-Sim provides the flexibility of changing various parameters of the TSP logic as well as the default timing plan. The performance of TSP under various parameter settings can be easily evaluated in detail through Vissim. The resulting model is a perfect tool to conduct sensitivity analysis and fine-tuning of TSP.
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EVALUATION OF MULTIPLE-UNIT STREETCAR OPERATION: A Case Study of the King St
The objective of this study is to investigate the performance effects of Multiple-Unit streetcar operation of the TTC Route # 504 along King St. through microscopic traffic simulation. The study area covers the whole stretch of the 504 King St streetcar route and a partial portion of all cross roads intersecting with the transit route corridor. A total of four scenarios were investigated through the simulation model. Each scenario differs in terms of streetcar configurations and servicing frequency. The relationship between boarding time per passenger and loading was also studied and the result was integrated into the simulation model. Detail analysis was carried out to investigate the pros and cons of switching from single-unit operation to multiple-unit operation. TTC used the model results in the benefit-cost analysis process before the deployment of multiple-unit streetcars.
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400-Series Highway Modeling within the City of Toronto
The purpose of this study is to develop a microsimulation traffic network which covers all of the major highways running within the City of Toronto.
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Multi-Modal Travel Demand Modeling for Urban Policy Analysis
The purpose of this study is to develop significantly enhanced, best practice travel demand modelling capabilities for Canadian urban policy analysis. The application case study for the initiative is the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), for which a “best practice” travel demand modelling system will be developed. The results of this study will be generally applicable to all Canadian urban areas. The study can be separated into three phases, namely (1) The model system design (2) Software system design (3) Model development and testing. The resulting model will provide significantly improved policy analysis and decision support capabilities for setting frameworks for efficient travel markets, managing and investing in transportation infrastructure, reducing transportation environmental impacts, and designing safer transportation systems. IntelliCAN is part of the project team composed of the "Joint Program in Transportation" staff at the University of Toronto as well as other staff from different participating agencies. IntelliCAN is mainly involved in the model system design and development of this study.
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