START-3 : implementation of a real-time congestion-prediction model system

The general objective of the START (Simulation of Traffic for Application in Real-Time) project is to develop a practical tool to predict traffic flows and travel times in real-time using the information provided by the on-line traffic monitoring system together with historic and network information. Deals with the following aspects of the on-line traffic measurements: traffic monitoring systems available ; properties of the monitoring systems ; available datasets of on-line traffic measurements ; description and analysis of the datasets. All on-line data used in START was taken from the existing MCSS (Motorway Control and Signalling System). The way in which the MCSS data is collected, pre-processed, and transmitted is described. Also the work done in the on-line link-level models within the START system is described.