Congestion Management in Mixed-Traffic Urban Networks: A Literature Review of Definitions, Indices, Propagation Mechanisms, and Research Gaps

Ashwin S Prabhu; Sewa Ram

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.80085

Congestion Management in Mixed-Traffic Urban Networks: A Literature Review of Definitions, Indices, Propagation Mechanisms, and Research Gaps

Author(s)	Mr. Ashwin S Prabhu, Prof. Dr. Sewa Ram
Country	India
Abstract	Urban traffic congestion has shifted from being treated as a static, point-condition imbalance between demand and capacity to a dynamic, propagating network phenomenon shaped by geometry, driver interaction, side friction, land use, and signal control. This is particularly true for Indian and other mixed-traffic cities, where lane-less movement, heterogeneous vehicle classes, intense pedestrian and non-motorised activity, and weak lane discipline destabilise classical models. This paper presents a synthesised literature review of congestion management covering: (a) foundational definitions and classifications of congestion drawn from demand-capacity, vehicular-interaction, delay, and cost-based perspectives; (b) the evolution of traffic flow models from first-order (LWR) through second- and third-order continuum formulations and Kerner's three-phase theory, with an evaluation of their relative ability to capture observed congestion dynamics; (c) congestion indices grouped by travel-time, speed and Level-of-Service families; (d) a comparative view of urban versus rural congestion; (e) a typology of recurring congestion mapped to shock-wave behaviour and effective capacity impact; (f) network-level diagnostics using centrality measures and resilience metrics; and (g) operational congestion management practices codified by agencies such as the US Federal Highway Administration. Drawing across more than thirty primary sources, the review converges on a picture of congestion as a cascading process that can be anticipated and managed when early signals are measured and control is network-aware. The paper concludes with a consolidated set of research gaps tailored to Indian urban conditions, including the under-development of propagation-based indices, the limited calibration of higher-order models to heterogeneous flows, the poorly quantified influence of side friction on shock-wave generation, the scarcity of multi-scale frameworks linking microscopic lane-change turbulence with network-level diffusion, and the need for context-specific viscosity-style parameters and congestion-burden valuation.
Keywords	Urban Traffic Congestion, Shock Waves, Traffic Flow Theory, Congestion propagation, Heterogeneous traffic,
Field	Engineering
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 3, May-June 2026
Published On	2026-05-30
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2026.v08i03.80085

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Congestion Management in Mixed-Traffic Urban Networks: A Literature Review of Definitions, Indices, Propagation Mechanisms, and Research Gaps

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