Improving the Performance of Traffic Signal Control at Mid-block Pedestrian Crossings

Abstract

Traffic signals controls at pedestrian crossings have a significant effect on the operational performance of road traffic. They interrupt the operations of the traffic stream. Therefore, the objective of this research is to improve the performance of traffic signal control at mid-block pedestrian crossings. This objective can be achieved by optimization of the signal timing plans. Two mid-block pedestrian crossings located in Cairo-Suez desert road in Suez City, Egypt were selected in this study. They are controlled by traffic signals. The selected pedestrian crossings were modeled and analyzed using the micro-simulation software VISSIM. The collected data were used to calibrate and validate the developed model. Signal timing models were developed for the selected pedestrian crossings. They used for optimization of vehicle delay and pedestrian delay times. Various values of performance index function (PI) are generated for different values of cycle length (C); then, the minimum value of PI is selected as the optimum design. The results showed that the changing of signal timing was successful in improving the operational performance of the traffic signals under study.