Adaptive Approaches for Tidal-Flow Lanes in Urban-Road Networks

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This is an interesting paper that addresses a very important topic for agencies seeking solutions for active traffic management. It is a well-written document, with a thorough literature review, and is relatively easy to follow.

Although simulation shows good results on the algorithm, a practical concern that may arise during field implementation: an algorithm that reverts the buffer lane frequently may induce drivers to confusion and reduce the effectiveness of the proposed solution. It would help future readers if the authors can discuss this potential limitation in the conclusions.

 

Additional minor comments :

• The graph presented in Figure 4 does not make sense (speed increasing exponentially with flow rate)
• Signal groups in Figure 5 seem like a very unusual pattern, at least for US roads that typically follow the NEMA dual-ring controller (all phases in the major street are served sequentially, then all phases in the minor street are served).
• The results in Figure 13 are difficult to interpret - suggest revising the graph design or expanding the description of the text.

 

Author Response

Thank you for your feedback, and the suggestions you raised are critical to improving this work.

 

We've included a new section called 'Limitations,' which addresses your problem. This section describes why this is a critical topic and how we tackled it in our work to ensure driver safety.

 

As for the minor comments:

1. We have expanded the explanation of the Figure you mentioned because it is one of the fundamental diagrams of traffic flow that has been extensively researched in the literature. Fundamental diagram of traffic flow - Wikipedia
   
   We've clarified that this applies exclusively to uncongested road sections where cars can go at free flow speed. This means that as vehicle travel speeds grow, so does the throughput of the road segment until congestion develops.
2. The signal groupings are indeed unusual in comparison to US road design, however they play no significant part in the analysis. We've added a note stating that signal groups are interchangeable and aren't required for this sort of tidal flow lane.
3. Very important insight - we have expanded the description of the charts

Reviewer 2 Report

In 182 line it is better to indicate the number of the equation.

I think we need short explanations for some shortcuts, such as: OTC-system, API module and so on.

Author Response

Thank you for your input; we have modified line 182 and included further information about OTC as well as the API part. We went over all of the other abbreviations we used and found none that needed to be expanded. Please let us know if you locate any more.

 

Kind regards

Reviewer 3 Report

Taking into consideration that traffic congestion affect all of us, and that in most of the cases the road can not be widened, an adaptive approach is needed. The manuscript is timely and well structured.

 

Author Response

Thank you for your insight.

Kind regards