Traffic simulation models are increasingly being used in the transportation engineering profession—often, to solve complex problems that may not lend themselves to traditional analysis techniques.  The application of traffic simulation models has traditionally been at the individual vehicle (microscopic) level or aggregate traffic stream (macroscopic) level. Recently, the Virginia Department of Transportation and other agencies have shown interest in mesoscopic traffic simulation models, which allow for a level of detail higher than macroscopic models and model execution times better than those of microscopic models.

This study proposed a procedure for mesoscopic simulation model calibration and validation.  The proposed procedure was demonstrated on a test bed along I-95 in the City of Richmond and Chesterfield County, Virginia, using Aimsun Next.  Results of the case study indicated that the proposed procedure appears to be properly calibrating and validating the mesoscopic simulation model of the test bed.