Group 6:

Blando, Alejandro
Lumalang, Joshua Andrew
Pili, Nathaniel

Traffic Model Simulation in EDSA (Buendia)

Abstract:
EDSA is one of the most famous roadways in the Philippines. In this study the researchers
interpret the data collected from various sources for other relevant use in the future generations
to come. Using VISSIM to provide a better understanding of how the traffic flow given the data on
number of vehicle travelling and its type.

AIM:
The aim of this study is to simulate and interpret a part of EDSA near Buendia Avenue.
This is to allow certain individuals to interpret the concluded simulation to their own use such as
on how will they improve road precautions. This study is mostly intended for MMDA officials that
handle that part of EDSA.

Introduction
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue or most commonly known as “EDSA” is one of the most
congested roadways in Metro Manila spanning with a length of 23.8 kilometers making it one of
the longest highway. Since EDSA connects some of the country’s major capital region’s namely
(from north to south) Caloocan, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati City, and Pasay,
this cause heavy traffic being a daily occurance on the roads of EDSA, it is both a concern to
public and private commuters in their daily lives. In other countries they run simulations based on
the road and try to predict what causes the traffic and when it may happen to further mitigate it.
In this scientometric we will try to simulate a specific part of EDSA traffic through the use of a
simulation tool called VISSIM.

VISSIM is a microscopic multi-modal traffic flow simulation software developed by PTV

Planung Transport Verkehr AG. It is one of the most popular traffic flow simulation utilizing
simulation model like “Microscopic simulation” and “Multi-modality”. VISSIM can be used in a wide
variety of application ranging from traffic engineering, public transport, etc. “Microscopic
simulation” is a mean to simulate each entity (car, train, person) individually making each entity
have their own properties. “Multi-modality” meaning that we are able to simulate different type of
traffic rather than just vehicles in the roadway even cyclist, trains, pedestrian VISSIM is able to
simulate it.

In the ample amount of research and discussion, we chose the part of EDSA Buendia
since it is part of Makati City the Central Business District of Metro Manila where both local and
multinational corporation are located. It is one of the busiest roadway in Metro Manila having an
annual daily traffic of a round 360,000 vehicles. Starting from merging lane of Pan-Philippine
Highway and Service Road near the Shrine of Mary the Queen, ending in EDSA Buendia Bus
Stop.

Review of Related Literature

I. Reading Literature 1 Review
Real-Time Traffic Data Collection and Dissemination from an Android
Smartphone using Proportional Computation and FreeSim as a Practical
Transportation System in Metro Manila
In their research, they present and study a practical Transporation
System solution to the congestion concerns in cities using a mid-range
smartphone. The researchers designed a client application to acquire
GPS location updates with timestamps.

II. Reading Literature 2 Review

An Analysis of EDSA Traffic Using Advanced Tools and Techniques
The aim of this research is to analyze and evaluate the currently
implemented traffic schemes in the congested intersections of EDSA and
to give alternative schemes to ease traffic congestion.

III. Reading Literature 3 Review

Modeling traffic flow using simulation and Big Data analytics
We have created a method for modeling vehicle arrivals based on real
data using time-series/regression techniques (Lippi, Bertini, and Frasconi
2013). We also introduce a new model for controlling the behavior of
vehicles within the system, so that it is determined by the data, and is
accomplished at simulation time, and not by a pre-simulation route-
planner.

IV. Reading Literature 4 Review

Modeling Traffic Congestion Using Simulation Software
Introduction
The intent of this paper is to explore one possible means to
address the issue of “lost” entering vehicles during congested
conditions. The simulation tool used for this effort is VISSIM and
the particular feature utilized is the ability to create trip chains,
which allow the user to specify departure times and
origin/destination points for individual vehicles.
V. Reading Literature 5 Review
Modeling reaction time within a traffic simulation model
Implementation of a traffic simulation with an accurate reaction time is
very limited and requires a lot of computational convenience and less
theory. This research implements a flexible reaction time model through
 the use of SimMobility, which is a microscopic traffic simulation model
that is being developed at SMART (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research
and Technology).

VI. Reading Literature 6 Review

Traffic Simulation Software Review
Metro Manila traffic, specifically in EDSA, needs to be simulated and
analyzed in order to minimize waste and pollution. The purpose of this
research is to compare different traffic simulation software and choose
which is the most viable for the researchers to simulate traffic in EDSA

VII. Reading Literature 7 Review

FREFLO: A Macroscopic Simulation Model of Freeway Traffic
Since there are many types of model to assess a Freeway traffic ranging
from Microscopic (individual vehicle movement), Mesoscopic (Platoon
movement), and Macroscopic (traffic flow in terms of density, space-
mean-speed, and flow rate). This study focuses on the Macroscopic
evaluation for freeway operation.

VIII. Reading Literature 8 Review

SUMO (Simulation for Urban MObility)
This study aims to introduce a new open-source traffic simulation system
to compete with other simulation packages since most simulation system
have different software architecture paradigm and different model in
describing the traffic itself.

IX. Reading Literature 9 Review

VISSIM: A Microscopic Simulation Tool to Evaluate Actuated Signal Control
including Bus Priority
This is a simulation to test the efficiency of vehicle or traffic actuated
signal control since it cannot be tested in the real world due to legal
restriction, numbers of possibilities, and limitation.

X. Reading Literature 10 Review

Luxembourg SUMO Traffic (LuST) Scenario: 24 Hours of Mobility for Vehicular
Network Research
Due to there being to many different kinds of vehicular traffic simulation,
the researchers wants to find a realistic traffic scenario and how wireless
communication can affect the flow of traffic in an area. The researchers
picked the City of Luxembourg since its roadways are comparable to
other European Cities.

XI. Reading Literature 11 Review

 Calibrating and Validating VISSIM Microscopic Simulation Software for the
Context of Sri Lanka
The aim of their research is to develop a calibration procedure and
identify representative values for parameters required for VISSIM
microsimulation software to suit the local Condition which is Sri Lanka.

XII. Reading Literature 12 Review

Adaptive driving route of busses along EDSA using Artificial Neural Network
(ANN)
The researchers in this study use Artificial Intelligence and Neural
Networks to find the corresponding bus schedule depending on the
following parameters Passenger volume embed, Passenger Volume
Dispatch, Traffic Congestion, Distance and Time.

XIII. Reading Literature 13 Review

Traffic impact analysis of urban construction projects based on traffic simulation
This research introduced a system for urban project planning such as
constructions, roadworks and the like that would impact analysis method
of traffic. They described different steps of traffic analysis and situations,
forecast, assignment and impact analysis for traffic.

XIV. Reading Literature 14 Review

Traffic Flow Prediction for Road Transportation Networks With Limited Traffic
Data
This Paper proposes on a way to predict upcoming traffic flows for all
links in a transport network over a short time horizon. Most Traffic
prediction models are considered inaccurate due to incomplete and
partial data that was gathered. This might be due to unavailability of said
traffic data due to no information or data gathering, machine sensor for
data gathering is malfunctioning and etc.

XV. Reading Literature 15 Review

Traffic Simulation with AIMSUN
Utilizing AIMSUN 6 since the original AIMSUN have far surpass the aim
from why it was develop, AIMSUN 6 now includes macroscopic,
mesoscopic and microscopic. This research focuses on the dynamic
modelling capabilities of AIMSUN.

Methodology
I. Data Collection

Data collected consist of the annual average daily traffic of the year 2012 to 2017
and the volume for each vehicle type (Car, PUJ, UV, Taxi, etc.) passing along EDSA
Buendia Ave. where acquired through the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA)
Electronic Freedom of Information.
II. Development of the Base Model

Using Vissim integrated map provider, we were able to take to take the
measurements for the road geometry. Using the map as a background image and a guide
in creating, placing, and connecting the necessary roadway diagram.
III. Calibrating Parameter

A primary reconfiguration of parameters in Vissim should be done first to match

the actual traffic behavior in EDSA Buendia Ave. from the desired speed distribution, lane
change, etc. to closely replicate the traffic conditions and the driver characteristic.
IV. Deployment of Simulation

Deployment and testing of data parameters to the base model within EDSA
Buendia Ave. in order to verify proper data has been set and verify the traffic simulation
within the road network to be identical or at least a degree of similarity to the actual road
network.

Figure 1. Simulated Highway

 Figure 1 shows the area of simulation used. Pan-Philippine Highway consist of 2
lanes. Beside it is the Kalayaan Flyover to EDSA road which has 1 lane. Even though
that they are beside each other there’s barrier that separates the two until they reach the
merger. The last road which consist of 2 lanes is the Service Road. If we pan out the map
a bit more we can see that the Pan-Philippine Highway and Service Road split from a 4
lane road then merges back at what we the researchers called the merger. The merger
consist of the Pan-Philippine Highway, Service Road, Buendia to Edsa and Kalayaan
Flyover to EDSA roads merging back into a 4 lane road.

Datasets

The dataset collected are official statistics of the Metropolitan Manila Development
Authority (MMDA). The researches will only be using the dataset collected for EDSA
Buendia. From recent findings of the researchers they found that MMDA officials gather
their data in a bus stop after Service Road, Pan-Philippine Highway and Buendia Avenue
to EDSA right turn merger. The accuracy of the volume of cars present at the time of their
collection depends on the MMDA’s approach on how to deal with it.
 Table 1
Figure 1 represents a summary of the Annual Average Daily Traffic from the year
2012-2017. As represented in the table, EDSA near Buendia Avenue has the most traffic
among the other roads commonly used by commuters, followed by Commonwealth
Avenue then Katipunan Avenue. Comparing the second and third to EDSA it has more or
less a 100,000 difference. It’s no doubt that EDSA is one of the most heavily used roads
in the Philippines as it connects too many. Another thing that the table shows is that the
total volume of cars collected by the MMDA is steadily rising. With no major changes or
innovations happening in EDSA you can expect it well to surpass 3 million daily traffic.

Table 2

Table 3
Table 2 and Table 3 represents the breakdown of the volume of the different types
of vehicles that passes through EDSA. Even though it is not indicated in the table 2 and
table 3, if you compare the total results to table 1 it yields the same results. This means
that the breakdown you see is an analysis of the traffic volume that passed EDSA near
Buendia Avenue. Since the year 2016 major traffic rules changes has occurred in EDSA
such as the bus lane rule and no jeepneys and trucks allowed. So the categories used
for simulation in the tables are the Car, Motorcycle (MC), UV, Taxi and Public Utility Bus
(PUB). Note that using this dataset does not fully represent the true volume of EDSA
Buendia.
Parameters

Table 4

Figure 2

Table 1 represents the table set values used for the min and max speed limit of
the vehicles according to its specific lane distribution and turns, the limits on this are
based on data gathered from various sites and rule/law enforcements placed along the
highway.
Figure 1 however showcases how the speed distribution can change according to
the current traffic flow of the vehicles per lane and also considers the desired speed
vehicles normally undertake along the EDSA highway, this however does not fully
represent the actual speed distribution within the highway due to a lack of information
from government officials but rather based on statistical information gathered from various
sites and hypothetical assessment upon the matter.
 Figure 3
Figure 2 shows the volumetric data of vehicles passing along the EDSA highway,
Kalayaan Flyover, Service Road, and vehicles incoming from Buendia. The total volume
is based on the Annual Average Daily Traffic report obtained from MMDA officials. The
distribution of volume is a hypothetical representation of volume that is passing along
each road and highways, this does not fully represent the proper distribution of volumetric
data for each of them.

Results

Table 5

Based on the parameters that we have set forth into the simulation tool, In Table
5 we can see the results of the mock simulation with data inputs such as Queue Delay,
Average Speed, Distance traveled and etc. The parameters that were used are based on
information gathered from officials and some with a bit of hypothetical adjustments into it,
so this does not truly represent the EDSA average speed, but just a hypothetical mockup
of it as it still lacks information on things such as the Bus Stop simulation.
 EDSA (BUENDIA) SIMULATION MODEL

Figure 4

From what the researchers can gather, the simulation has pointed out that there
are indeed some bottlenecks near the Service Road, Kalayaan Flyover Inbound and Pan-
Philippine highway merger. This is due to the major factor of vehicle volume along the
highway. Looking at the simulation we can see that the cars have difficulty in moving into
a 4 lane. The traffic stacks up to the point that it creates a domino effect. But when cars
are able to get past through that point traffics eases up and vehicle speeds increases. It’s
short lived through because when the vehicles reach the intersection in Ayala avenue
traffic tends to pile up especially in rush hours. Slow movement speed and sheer volume
is a bad combination especially on a road that is very often used.

Looking on the traffic coming from Kalayaan Flyover to EDSA due to the way they
designed the ramps and how narrow the road is compared to the other lanes creates a
bottleneck of its own. Cars coming from that point tend to line up because it has to merge
with Pan-Philippine highway road. The way the road is designed to merge with the bigger
roads indicates a bad traffic flow.

What is consistent however is that the traffic flow in Service Road, cars using that
road has a consistent and fast speed compared to Pan-Philippine Highway and Kalayaan
Flyover; Sometimes some of the cars can reach the maximum speed limit allowed until it
merges with the other 2 roads. Looking at the model congestion occurs due to 5 lanes
merging into a 4 lane. Even so traffic seems to flow with the tradeoff of speed but when
the cars reaches pass the point of the merger traffic flow moves much faster.
Conclusion
Based on the findings the researchers have obtained from the model simulation,
the researchers like to say that there are indeed some congestions along the EDSA
Buendia highway especially along the merger between Pan-Philippine High, Kalayaan
Flyover, Service Road, and Right Turn coming from Buendia. This however does not
include Buses and UV unloading in the Bus Stop near the EDSA MRT, this is due to a
lack of information on the amount of Buses and UV that are unloading passengers around
the Bus Stop. Although we can conclude that by adding the Bus Stop, it will further
escalate the congestion along the highway as private vehicles also pass through that lane
coming from Buendia’s Right Turn.
Future Works
In hopes for future simulation of EDSA Buendia to accurately depicts its actual
traffic flow the researchers would like to recommend a more accurate dataset. This is no
mean an insult to MMDA’s statistics team but in actuality the datasets they provide is just
inadequate for Vissim simulation. To properly depict EDSA manually gathering the data
for yourselves is what the researchers think is the best way to have an accurate dataset.
Asking for a little help from the MMDA is also an option to lessen the load. What the future
researches needed to gather importantly is the volume of cars coming from Pan-
Philippine highway, Service Road, Kalaayan Flyover to EDSA and Buendia to EDSA exit.
This is what the researchers think the cars are coming from to represent EDSA Buendia.
Also gathering the speed of each lane on each road depicted in the study helps in making
the simulation more accurate. Unfortunately in the study the researchers did not include
a bus stop that is found near the Buendia to EDSA exit. The researchers theorize that if
this is included it would yield a slightly different result.