Mini Projects : Traffic Flow

Application: Traffic Flow

In the downtown section of a certain city, two sets of one-way streets intersect
as shown below. The average hourly volume of traffic entering and leaving
this section during rush hour is given in diagram. Determine the amount of
traffic between each of the four intersections.

450 310
310

610 x1
640
640

x2 x4

520 x3 600
600

480
390
390

Solution:

At each node, we write out the equation that represents the

conservation of flow there. We then rewrite each equation with the variables
on the left and the constant on the right, to get a linear system in standard
form.

Node A: 450 + x 1 = 610 + x 2 x1 - x2 = 160

Node B: 520 + x 2 = 480 + x 3 x 2 - x 3 = -40
Node C: 390 + x 3 = 600 + x 4 1a111 x 3 - x 4 = 210
Node D: 640 + x 4 = 310 + x 1 x1 - x 4 = 330
Using Gauss- Jordan elimination, reduce the augmented matrix:

1 −1 0 0 160

[ 0 1 −1 0 −40
0 0 1 −1 210
1 0 0 −1 330
|]
rearrange the row

1 0 0 −1 330

[ 1
0
0
|]
−1 0 0 160
0 1 −1 210
1−1 0 −40

R 2−R 1

1 0 0 −1 330

[ 0
0
0
−1 0 1 −170
0 1 −1 210
1−1 0 −40
| ]
1 0 0 −1 330

[ 0
0
0
| ]
−1 0 1 −170
0 1 −1 210
0−1 1 −210

1 0 0 −1 330

[ 0 −1 0 1 −170
0 0 1 −1 210
0 00 0 0
| ]
R 2×−1

1 0 0 −1 330

[ |]
0
0
0
1 0 −1 170
0 1 −1 210
00 0 0
There is a free variable, x 4 so that there are infinitely many solutions.
Let x 4 =t ,
then:
 x 1 - x 4 = 330
x 1=330−x 4 x 1=330+t

 x 2 - x 4 = 170
x 2=170+ x 4 x 2=170+t

 x 3 - x 4 = 210
x 3=210+ x 4 x 3=210+t

 x 4 =t

These equations describe all possible flows and allow us to analyze the
volume of traffic. We can find the maximum and minimum possible flows on
each branch. All flows must be nonnegative.

Examining the the 4 equations, when all flows are nonnegative,

 in first equation t ≤ 330;
 in second equation t ≤ 170;
 in third equation t ≤ 21 0;
 only fourth equation is the most restrictive which shows that t ≥ 0
so we have deduced that 0 ≤ t ≤.∞ Combining this result with the four
equations, we see that
330 ≤ x 1 ≤ ∞
170 ≤ x 2 ≤ ∞
210 ≤ x 3 ≤ ∞
i0 ≤ x 4 ≤ ∞

Therefore, the amount of traffic between each of the four intersections is

determined.