While sitting in my car on the way home from work last night, I found myself wondering about the physics of traffic flow. I know this resembles fluid dynamics (for instance traffic can have standing waves), but I would be fascinated to learn more about it.
It is obviously important for city planners to understand the math behind traffic congestion, and every aspiring politician has strong views on the matter, but I wonder how much proper peer reviewed scientific research has gone into this? Anyone have links or books to recommend?