The Traffic Simulation Laboratory is a specialized research facility within the Civil Engineering Department and serves as the core infrastructure supporting the Transportation Engineering discipline at the college. It is uniquely positioned as the only lab at the university dedicated to traffic simulation applications, congestion analysis, and network performance evaluation using advanced tools and modeling techniques.

The lab hosts a range of funded research projects from both internal and external entities, in addition to supporting student capstone projects in related fields. It also plays a key role in enhancing learning outcomes by providing an advanced, hands-on training environment that enables students to develop strong analytical competencies in traffic engineering.

Academic and Research Role

The laboratory functions as a central applied platform supporting:

* Traffic engineering coursework
* Graduate programs in transportation engineering
* High-quality capstone projects in related domains
* Graduate student research
* The university’s Transportation and Traffic Safety Committee

It is extensively utilized by graduate students and faculty members to conduct advanced research, including:

* Intelligent traffic control modeling
* Artificial intelligence applications in transportation network management
* Evaluation and analysis of alternative geometric designs for both signalized and unsignalized intersections

The lab has made a direct contribution to the research output of the Transportation Engineering group, with more than 30 peer-reviewed publications indexed in the Web of Science database.

These publications cover key areas such as:

* Traffic safety
* Traffic congestion
* Sustainable transportation
* AI-based modeling
* Intelligent transportation systems (ITS)

Technical Infrastructure

The laboratory is equipped with a robust technical setup, including:

* Four high-performance computing workstations dedicated to simulation
* A suite of specialized software tools, including:
   * PTV Vissim
   * PTV Vistro
   * Synchro / SimTraffic
   * Highway Capacity Software (HCS)
   * AutoCAD Civil 3D
   * ArcGIS

There are also plans to further enhance capabilities through the integration of high-performance computing (HPC) systems to support advanced artificial intelligence applications.