Sustainable transportation systems play a key role in the socio-economic development\nof a country. Microscopic simulation models are becoming increasingly useful tools in designing,\noptimizing, and evaluating the sustainability of transportation systems and concerned management\nstrategies. VISSIM, a microscopic traffic simulation software, has gained rapid recognition in the field\nof traffic simulation. However, default values for different input parameters used during simulation\nneed to be tested to ensure a realistic replication for local traffic conditions. This paper attempts to\nmodel driving behavior parameters using the microscopic simulation software VISSIM through a case\nstudy in the Khobar-Dammam metropolitan areas in Saudi Arabia. VISSIM default values for dierent\nsensitive parameters such as lane change distances, additive and multiplicative parts of desired safety\ndistances, the number of preceding vehicles spotted, amber signal decisions, and minimum headway\nwere identified to be most sensitive and significant parameters to be calibrated to precisely replicate\nfield conditions. The simulation results using default values produced higher link speed, larger queue\nlength, and shorter travel times than those observed in the field. However, measures of effectiveness\n(MOEs) obtained from calibrated models over desired simulation runs were comparable to those\nobtained from field surveys. All compared MOEs used to validate the model matched within a range\nof 5-10% to the field-observed values.
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