by:

jt-y I If roadway traffic is viewed as a compressible fluid, kinematic wave models are ideal to help analyze traffic evolution. Among the many variants of the seminal LWR model, the simplified theory of kinematic waves is particularly simple and elegant. It can be summarized in several standard steps and involves only simple mathematical operations such as addition and subtraction, features of which are particularly friendly and efficient for computer simulation. To maximize the advantages of this model, extensions are attempted to generalize this model so that it applies to a general transportation network rather than freeway mainline as intended by the original model. A generalized capacity-based weighted fair queuing (CBWFQ) merge model and a generalized contribution-based weighted splitting (CBWS) diverge model are formulated to deal with merging and diverging traffic. Based on these, a procedure is developed to model a general node where multiple upstream links and multiple downstream links are allowed