Appraisal of Busy Traffic Intersections and Design of Coordinated Signal System

Abstract

Road intersections in series in urban areas lead to discord between opposing traffic flows and cause delays and accidents. To overcome these problems at intersections, the traffic flows across the intersections are controlled by using signals. The fixed timings and isolated operation of signals at each intersection along a street may cause delays on red duration and generate vehicular queue during peak hours. Proper timing and coordination of the signal timings with reference to intersection distance and the average travelling speed of vehicles can boost traffic handling capacity along the streets during busiest hours. This work has been conducted to assess the current operating system of traffic signals and investigate the benefits of these signals coordinatedby using micro-simulation software PTV VISSIM. Initially, the VISSIM simulation was calibrated and the coordinated signals were run for execution based on the prepared model in VISSIM. The traffic flow delays and travel times obtained by the simulation were compared with the corresponding values before coordination. A considerable decrease in delays and travel times was noticed after coordinating the signals along the study street. It is also useful for similar traffic coordination studies elsewhere, subjected to the intervals of intersections and traffic flow characteristics are comparable.