Traffic flow forecasting: Comparison of modeling approaches

The capability to forecast traffic volume in an operational setting has been identified as a critical need for intelligent transportation systems (ITS). In particular, traffic volume forecasts will support proactive, dynamic traffic control. However, previous attempts to develop traffic volume forecasting models have met with limited success. This research effort focused on developing traffic volume forecasting models for two sites on Northern Virginia's Capital Beltway. Four models were developed and tested for the freeway traffic flow forecasting problem, which is defined as estimating traffic flow 15 min into the future. They were the historical average, time-series, neural network, and nonparametric regression models. The nonparametric regression model significantly outperformed the other models. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that the nonparametric regression model experienced significantly lower errors than the other models. In addition, the nonparametric regression model was easy to implement, and proved to be portable, performing well at two distinct sites. Based on its success, research is ongoing to refine the nonparametric regression model and to extend it to produce multiple interval forecasts.