Methods for estimating vehicle queues at a marine terminal: A computational comparison

A long queue of vehicles at the gate of a marine terminal is a common traffic phenomenon in a port-city, which sometimes causes problems in urban traffic. In order to be able to solve this issue, we firstly need accurate models to estimate such a vehicle queue length. In this paper, we compare the existing methods in a case study, and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. Particularly, we develop a simulation-based regression model, using the micro traffic simulation software PARAMIC. In simulation, it is found that the queue transient process follows a natural logarithm curve. Then, based on these curves, we develop a queue length estimation model. In the numerical experiment, the proposed model exhibits better estimation accuracy than the other existing methods.