Exploring the Impact of Homogeneity of Traffic Measurements on the Existence of Macroscopic Fundamental Diagrams

Recently, some authors have provided experimental evidence of the existence of an urban-scale macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD). Their convincing results were obtained on the basis of 500 urban fixed detectors placed 100 m upstream of most major intersections in the city of Yokohama, Japan. Those authors assume that the network in which data are collected is homogeneous in regard to congestion occurrence. This paper is devoted to exploring the impact of heterogeneity on the existence of an MFD. All data available for a medium-size French city are used. The data set encompasses measurements on highways, urban center streets (congested during business hours), and residential area streets. Data were collected by loop detectors with a distance from a downstream signal that can vary from 1,000 to 10 m. Heterogeneity is examined here in various aspects: differences between the surface and highway network, impact of the distance between the loop detector and the traffic signal in the surface network, and differences between penetrating roads and the ring road in the highway network. It is proved in this paper that heterogeneity has a strong impact on the shape of the macroscopic fundamental diagram.