The establishment and planning of an urban traffic that meets all the requirements of mobility is the basis for achieving of effective economic and social activities within an agglomeration. To do this, several models and software simulations have been developed for very different purposes. The Traffic simulation is a tool to study the design and operation of facilities, to estimate the evolution of the traffic conditions on a network and to evaluate their consequences.

Through this article, we propose an overview of the models and tools for modeling and simulating road traffic. At first, we start, through some definitions, to make an epistemological distinction between the notions of modeling and simulation in the field of traffic. We will then discuss the different modeling approaches used for the road traffic study. Subsequently, a classification of dynamic simulation tools and software will be presented.