Urban road traffic flow control under incidental congestion as a function of accident duration

An abrupt increase in urban road traffic flow caused by incidental congestion is considered. The residual traffic capacity varies in different lanes after an accident, and the influence of accident duration on traffic flow is taken into account. The swallowtail catastrophe model was built based on catastrophe theory. The critical state of traffic congestion under incidental congestion was analyzed using this model, and a traffic flow control scheme is proposed with the goal of maximizing the traffic capacity. Finally, the operational state of traffic flow under different scenarios is analyzed through case study and the feasibility of the model is validated.