Aarushi N.'s Senior Project Blog!

In the city of San Jose, traffic is a well-known issue, and I aim to come up with a solution that can help pinpoint the causes for traffic. My research at Columbia University will help me learn more about traffic patterns and what causes them. My advisor there will help me make a computer simulation for the traffic, which will be the final product. My hope is that my project will be useful in reducing traffic, or at least in working towards fixing the transportation system. In my research, I expect to find that most people choose routes they are familiar with or have been suggested by navigation applications as the most straightforward directions, even if they are not the fastest, and people tend to stick with what they know. In order to narrow the scope of the project so that I will be able to complete it on time, I will focus on 87 near the Capitol Expressway exit. The traffic there is exceptionally heavier than anywhere on the rest of the route, and I want to understand why that is happening. For the model itself, I will try to make it as specific as possible, which means I will have to limit the amount of outliers in the system. In doing so, I will be able to look at the aggregate data and properly extrapolate the reasons as to why traffic is heavier in this specific region.