Evaluation of effect of traffic signal coordination system on congestion

Abstract

A lot of effort has been concentrated on the development of various tools for the optimization of transportation systems. The potential benefits of studying coordination systems of traffic signal are already known in traffic flow analysis, modeling and traffic engineering design. However, presently there is a lack of information on coordination system on Malaysian roads. This study determines the coordination system pattern of traffic signal for two intersections space at 275m distance. Data for vehicles movement were collected using video camera during the morning peak and evening peak hour. A simulation model, TRANSYT, was used to evaluate the possible coordination of both signalized intersections. To calibrate TRANSYT, delay, queue and journey time practically were measured. The results show after coordinating system, the value of delay, journey time, and queue reduced. The average delay during morning peak hour in base case simulation was obtained 58sec/veh which it reduced to 32.8sec/veh in coordination system. The same result was attainable for evening where the value of delay by 60.3 sec/veh in the base case reduced to 34.4 sec/veh in the coordination system. Therefore it leads to improve the level of service from E in the base case to C for coordinated one.