An Empirical Framework for Intersection Optimization Based on Uniform Design

Abstract

Operational performance optimization of signalized intersections is one of the most important tasks for traffic engineers and researchers. To compensate for the limitations of practical implementation, simulation software packages have been widely used to evaluate different optimization strategies and thus to improve the efficiency of the intersections as well as the entire network. However, for the existing optimization studies on signalized intersections, the relationships among various optimization measures and the combination of strategies have not been fully investigated. In this paper, uniform design experimentation was introduced to combine different optimization measures into strategies and achieve the minimum time cost in model construction. VISSIM software package was then calibrated and used to evaluate various optimization strategies and identify the one with the best measurement of performance, namely, control delay at the signalized intersection. By taking a representative congested intersection in Shanghai as a case study, the optimal strategy was identified to reduce the overall control delay by 27.3%, which further verified the modeling capability of the proposed method.