Simulation model using SimPy with Python

The “Future Cities” Project in Trinity College Dublin investigates a “Self-Organising
Motorway” as a possible approach to reduce congestion on motorways. Your task is to
replicate aspects of this research using a simulation model implemented in SimPy v.4.
Create a simulation for a 3km segment of motorway that reduces after 2km from 3 lanes to
2 lanes.

Source: https://www.tcd.ie/futurecities/research/mobility/traffic-management.php

Answer the following questions:
1. What is the as optimal average travelling time topt in free flowing, non-congested
traffic?
2. What is the optimum throughput Nopt in cars/hours when the average travelling time
is 20% longer than topt. (The Trinity Study seems to indicate a value of Nopt=4000
cars/hours)
3. What is the maximum throughput Ncong in cars/hours when the motorway is heavily
congested, but the traffic is still flowing? We define traffic as congested, when the
average travelling time tcong is twice the optimal average travelling time topt. (The
Trinity study seems to indicate a value of Ncong=5000 cars/hours.

Note: The travelling time topt and tcong as well as the throughput figures Nopt and Ncong
depend of course on your assumptions about the traffic mix, i.e. the distribution of vehicle
types and drivers behaviour that you have considered as given. Make sure that you clearly
document your assumptions.

We are facing two major changes:
• An increase in the number of fully electrical vehicles (with a different acceleration /
deceleration factors), and
• An increase in the number of autonomous or partially automated cars (both
electrical and conventional) following an improved driving strategy.
The aim of the simulation study is to investigate the influence of these two parameters on
Nopt and Ncong.

The project has two deliverables:

1. A final report in .pdf format describing your simulation study should have 6
pages in IEEE conference format
2 .A zip file with the code as (one or more) Jupyter Notebook files and any additional
data files and documentation that may be required.