Impact of New Traffic Management Measures in Nijmegen

Developed by: Goudappel Coffeng BV
Client: Tthe Municipality of Nijmegen
Country: The Netherlands
Agent: -
Project year: 2009

In the note ‘Reliable accessibility to Nijmegen ', the municipality of Nijmegen has set out a strategy to improve its accessibility. The strategy is based on dynamic multimodal traffic management measures. These measures do not only concern vehicular traffic, but also public transport and bicycle. For vehicular traffic, a strategy has been formulated where an important function is given to the arterial roads and a diminished function to the collector roads (see figure 1).

The strategy is mainly based on the dynamic application of services to influence the route choice and the quality of the traffic flow under different circumstances. Typical measures include the temporary accumulation of vehicular traffic in buffer zones and the allocation of additional green times for the intersections along the arterial route.

With the assistance of the dynamic assignment; MaDAM, Goudappel Coffeng has studied the possible impacts of these measures on the quality of the traffic flow for both the morning and evening peaks of an average working day in 2020.

Through interactions with the multimodal component of the static traffic model, the impacts of mode choice and traffic distribution were also taken into consideration.

Figure 2 illustrates an example of preliminary results obtained during the study. The analysis focuses on the relations between the various city districts. In many cases, there is a marked improvement in accessibility while deterioration is observed for some combinations. Other measures are now under consideration for improving the situation of the affected districts while preserving the potential gains.