I’m sitting here mesmerized by a German microsimulation of road traffic. The site hosts a Java applet that does a really great job of simulating a variety of potential traffic jam situations, including onramps, traffic lights, and uphill grades.
I’ve spent years commuting along Seattle’s horrendous highway 520 corridor, so I’ve had a lot of time to contemplate the patterns inherent in vehicular motion (or lack thereof) during a traffic jam. The Java applet accurately models one of my favorite phenomena, the tendency of clots in traffic to move backwards as a traffic jam progresses. Stopped cars form a wave pattern that moves against the flow of traffic; the Ring Road section of the simulation does an excellent job of isolating this phenomenon for viewing.
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