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Optimization of urban road traffic in Intelligent Transport Systems

Conference Paper · October 2012

DOI: 10.1109/ICATE.2012.6403458

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 Optimization of urban road traffic in Intelligent
Transport Systems

Elena Alina Stanciu*, Ilona Madalina Moise* and Lacramioara Mihaela Nemtoi*
* University Politehnica ,Bucharest, Roumania,

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract – The urban traffic congestions represent a major in order to analyze and study it. This decomposition can
problem in the vast majority of world metropolis and the be performed based on the main directions on which the
Intelligent Transport Systems are created to provide real persons and merchandise actually move. The appar-
time control and route guidance for the traffic participants, ently chaotic nature of road traffic is given by the fact that
and to optimize the performance of traffic networks. The it is performed by large numbers of moving entities (road
updated control and the adaptive control strategies are vehicles and pedestrians) which are driven by very diverse
more and more frequently used due to their potential to reasons, like scope, destination, distance, urgency, impor-
reduce the delay in the intersections. New opportunities to tance and route.
control the traffic on street networks have been created due
to the fast evolution of communications and computerized The objective of urban traffic optimization is to in-
processing methods in the last decade. The role of urban crease the efficiency of transportation services and thus
traffic optimization is to both increase the efficiency of their capacity to satisfy user requirements. Urban traffic
transport services and their capacity to respond to user re- optimization systems include but are not limited to infor-
quirements. This category of systems include information mation systems that disseminate public urban transporta-
systems that disseminate information concerning the public tion schedules, prices and routes, systems that automati-
transport schedule and the exact time-of-arrival of public cally collect the transportation fees, automatic vehicle
transport assets, prices, routes, automatic trip tax collection location and vehicle fleet management systems, safety
systems, vehicle location systems for fleet management and systems etc.
safety systems. The paper herein provides an analysis of a
group of intersections, starting from the Vasile Milea Boule-
vard, up to its intersection with the 13 Septembrie Road, II. INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS
while trying to determine the optimal maximum green time
for each and every intersection, in order to reduce the wait-
ing time at the semaphores, to improve the level of service The Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) can be de-
and to avoid semaphore waiting queues. fined as an aggregate of advanced systems in the field of
electronics, telecommunications and information technol-
ogies, integrated with the overall objective to increase the
efficiency and the safety of transportation[1]. The basic
I. INTRODUCTION ITS technology is oriented on three main directions:
communications, information, integration. Information
The road traffic is defined as the general move- acquisition (collection), processing, integration and sort-
ment of vehicles and persons, concentrated on terrain sur- ing are the basic activities of ITS. The ITS solutions create
faces specially designed for such purpose, i.e. the roads. individual travelers, drivers, carriers and authorities that
The phenomenon of road traffic or road circulation takes are all better informed, capable to make “smart” decisions.
place on large distances and large territories, as well as in The intelligent transport systems and services refer to any
restrained areas. Following the continuous evolution of system or service that makes the movement of persons and
vehicles, the rhythm and the pace of road traffic increased goods more efficient and economical. Intelligent Trans-
accordingly. The vehicle pool has reached impressive fig- port Systems include a wide range of new instruments,
ures, both at national and international levels. More than designed for the administration of transportation networks
700 million vehicles are registered worldwide, of all types and travel services. The information acquisition,
and designations, more and more vehicles and road trans- processing, integration and delivery to the transportation
portation means being produced each year. Such increase actors are centric for Intelligent Transport Systems, pro-
led to the reach of motor saturation limit on many roads, viding online real time information concerning the current
especially in the economically developed countries. traffic conditions of a transportation network, information
that can be exploited for daily planning. The instruments
In our country, due to the fast increase of the motor ve- included in the Intelligent Transport Systems provide for
hicles number, a development of the road infrastructure, better informed authorities, transport operators and travel-
as well as the upgrade of existing road infrastructure is ers, increasing their capability to coordinate whatever de-
certainly needed. Worldwide, the traffic road phenomenon cisions they make. A new approach concerning the trans-
is more and more difficult to control, coordinate or man- port problems is needed, in order to achieve a national
age. In reality, this stochastic process can be decomposed, transport system that is efficient both from the economical
and environmental protection points of view. Depending time information concerning alternative transport services,
on their development objectives, ITS can be defined and so that the travel can be carried out with minimal interrup-
categorized in several ways, as briefly presented below. tions and inconveniences. The ITS which have a positive
impact on travel comfort are: real time traffic information,
real time public transports information, dynamic route
According to ISO, the ITS can be classified on the guidance, vehicle tracking, intelligent card payment of
functions they fulfil, as follows: transportation fees[1][5].

ATMS-Advanced Traffic Management Systems E. Safety increase

AVCS-Advanced Vehicle Control Systems Increasing safety is a priority for all infrastructure oper-
APTS-Advanced Public Transport Systems ators, which use a variety of ITS technologies in order to
increase road safety. Integrated traffic control systems,
CVO-Commercial Vehicle Operation.[1][2] dynamic access control systems to approach lanes, dy-
namic message panels, traffic and incidents detection sys-
III. BENEFITS OF THE INTELLIGENT tems are used in order to monitor traffic conditions and to
TRANSPORT SYSTEMS ensure an easy and safe travel. Many infrastructure opera-
The main benefits of ITS, grouped with regard to their tors make use of weather monitoring systems that provide
impact on transportation are: accidents rate reduction, drivers with early warning information on potentially dan-
decongestion of traffic, environment monitoring and pro- gerous situations. Two of the usual indicators on road
tection, operational efficiency and productivity increase, safety increase are the reduction of accidents rate and the
comfort and safety increase[3] [4]. reduction of emergency response times. The accidents rate
reduction is not the same thing with disasters rate reduc-
A. Accidents rate reduction tion because the relations between the two indicators de-
ITS provide for a significant accidents rate re- pend on several other factors. On board of the vehicles,
duction, and also for a reduction of accidents’ severity and the active support systems with an impact on the increase
emergency services intervention time. of visibility area, the preservation of the occupied lane, the
collision avoidance and alert monitors reduced the errors
The systems that have an impact on accident rate associated with driver’s fatigue[1][3][5]
reductions refer mainly at: automatic traffic control for all
the transportation parties, enforcement of speed restric- F. Efficiency
tions and movement authority by video surveillance sys-
tems, speed control to ensure traffic fluency, incidents The increase of efficiency is a goal of all the national
detection, incidents early warning and anti-collision sys- ITS programs. The benefits related to travel efficiency
tems, increase of visibility, emergency response time, increase depend on a number of factors. The benefits are
weather conditions and micro-climate monitoring[2][5]. higher for longer travels than for the shorter ones, both in
absolute terms and relative terms of reference. The pede-
B. Decongestion of traffic strians can benefit from shorter waiting time at the road
crossing points, through an intelligent control of the se-
Traffic congestion can be reduced through transport maphores. The road administrators and infrastructure op-
demands administration, transportation network’s effi- erators can benefit from ITS products and services
ciency increase, redirection of transportation demands through the optimization of existing facilities and roads.
toward other transportation means that may have spare
During our days the world is continuously moving and the
capacity[1][6] time means money, so that is obvious that saving time
C. Environment monitoring and protection through the use of ITS means saving money for those in-
volved in transportation businesses, and also for the trav-
Most of the environment benefits are based on the prin- eling citizens. It is therefore hoped that the enhanced ve-
ciple that fewer vehicles in operation result in lowering hicle control systems (e.g. collision avoidance systems)
fuel consumption and consequently less carbon emissions. will determine the traffic volume in the time unit, through
Specific services that are targeted to environment protec- the reduction of safety space intervals between vehicles,
tion: pollution monitoring, air quality reporting and trans- thus increasing traffic volumes in the same time with re-
portation demands management. The systems that facili- ducing the incidents rate[1][5][6][7][8]
tate such benefits are: navigation devices, traffic informa-
tion services that provide drivers with data concerning the
most efficient routes in order to avoid delays, information IV. OPTIMIZATION OF INTERSECTIONS
concerning the available parking slots that are sent directly
VASILE MILEA-DRUMUL TABEREI-DRUMUL
to the drivers in a certain area, thus avoiding drivers cir-
cling the crowded parking areas, real time information SARII-CALEA 13 SEPTEMBRIE
about arrival/ departure schedules in multimode transport
systems, which encourage the use of public transportation In the following paragraphs, we will perform an analy-
etc.[1][5][6] sis of a group of intersections, starting from the Vasile
Milea Boulevard, up to its intersection with the 13 Sep-
D. Comfort increase tembrie Road, while trying to determine the optimal max-
ITS provide information concerning travel conditions, imum green time for each and every intersection, in order
including weather conditions at destination, which overall to reduce the waiting time at the semaphores, to improve
reduce travel associated stress. ITS provide public trans- the level of service and to avoid semaphore waiting
portation users information concerning delays and real queues.
 The initial layout of the area under study is represented
in the figure below:

Fig.3Reference data for the Vasile Milea – Drumul Taberei intersection

For the Vasile Milea – Drumul Taberei intersection, the

initial data provide the following information: for a sema-
phore cycle length of 55 seconds, the intersection capacity
Fig.1. The layout of the intersection under study (ICU – Intersection Capacity Utilization) is 73.6%, the
delays rise to 34.5 seconds per vehicle and the level of
service is C, characterized by stable traffic flows, but with
Figure 1 represents graphically the area chosen for the a notable interaction with other traffic participants. The
case study, and in the following we will perform an evalu- general level of comfort and safety decreases considera-
ation of each intersection, in order to be able to compare ble. The delays calculations are integral part of the optimi-
the initial situation, with the situation resulted after opti- zation process and will include the traditional delays cal-
mization. culation methods, but will also include a novel method to
calculate delays, based on blocking conditions. If the in-
tersection is coordinated, the Synchro software application
explicitly calculates the progression factor, the coordina-
tion effects and accuracy.

Fig. 2 Reference data for the Vasile Milea – Timisoara Blvd intersection

Following the input of traffic volume on each circula- Fig. 3. Reference data for Drumul Sarii intersection
tion direction and lane, and the lengths of the actual sema-
phore cycles for the aforementioned intersection, it can be
noticed that the intersection’s capacity is 75.5%, the de- The pre-optimization status for this intersection can be
lays are 15.1 seconds per vehicle per intersection, and the resumed as follows: for a 40 seconds semaphore cycle, the
level of service for this intersection is B, characterized by level of service is A (with delays < 10 seconds), characte-
stable flows, with a high degree of freedom of choice con- rized by an unrestrained traffic flow, with individual users
cerning the speed and the operation conditions, with a virtually unaffected by the presence of other vehicles in
little influence on other traffic participants. the same space.
Fig. 4. Reference data for the 13 Septembrie – Antiaeriana intersection Fig.5 Situation of the 13 Septembrie intersection following optimization
– separation of the traffic flows

Following the input of traffic volumes in the simulation

software, on each and every traffic flow, it can be noticed Figure 6 represents a traffic optimization solution that is
that for a 90 seconds semaphore cycle, the optimization of the separation of traffic flows. After this solution is ap-
this intersection is not possible, because the number of plied and simulated, the traffic parameters are improved,
vehicles is too large, thus determining the intersection as detailed in Table 3 below.
blocking. The same result is achieved through simulation,
even if the semaphore cycle is increased at 150 seconds. TABLE III. TRAFFIC PARAMETERS – INITIAL
SITUATION
After the analysis of each intersection having as para-
meters the actual lengths of the semaphore cycles, the
initial status of each of the roads considered in the case Ini- Opti- ICU ICU De- De- Lev- Level
study is synthetically presented in Table 1 below. tial ti- fol- after lays lays el of of
lengt mize low- theop- be- after ser- service
h of d ing timiza- fore op- vice after
TABLE I. TRAFFIC PARAMETERS – INITIAL SITUATION the lengt the tion op- timi- after theop-
sema h of first was timi- za- the timiza-
ma- the op- applied za- tion first tion
Initial length ICU (Inter- phor sema timi- (%) tion( (s) op- was
De-
Intersec- of the sema- section Ca- Level of e ma- za- s) timi- applied
lay
tion phore cycle pacity Usage) service cycle phor tion za-
(s)
(s) (%) (s) e (%) tion
Vasile cycle
Milea 60 75.7 15.2 B (s)
Drumul 73.6
Taberei 55 34.5 C 90 109 93.3 62.7 93.3 21.2 F C
Drumul 37.8
Sării 40 5.9 A
Calea 13 82.4
Septem- 90 93.3 F V. CONCLUSIONS
brie The traffic optimization in intersections can be achieved
through semaphore cycle improvement, as follows:
Following the optimization, the values of the same in- Semaphores enhancement through the use of novel
dicators are presented in Table 2 below. equipment, that provide for the development of more
complex strategies to modify the traffic flows;
Semaphores synchronization in order to dynamically
TABLE II. TRAFFIC PARAMETERS – POST OPTIMIZATION respond to the changing traffic conditions in real time, in
order to reduce useless delays;
Optimized
ICU (Inter-
Coordination and interconnection of semaphores, to al-
length of low a better interworking between fixed and adaptive se-
section Ca- Delay Level of
Intersection the sema- maphores, by real time administration of time tables and
pacity Usage) (s) service
phore cycle
(%) automates control, in order to reduce the number and the
(s)
Vasile
frequency of vehicle stops that occur in the intersections;
Milea 70 75.7 14.3 B Removal of semaphores from the intersection that do
Drumul not really need control, in order to reduce delays and un-
Taberei 90 73.6 20.6 C wanted stops;
Drumul Change of semaphores control with predetermined tim-
Sării 40 37.8 5.9 A
ings, function of updated traffic parameters;
Calea 13
Septembrie 150 82.4 90.3 F Modification of Change Yellow interval and/ or the Re-
lease on Red interval;
Modification of the semaphore cycle duration;
 Use of software tools, designed for traffic analysis and
optimization (Synchro, Aimsun, Contram, Transyt, etc).

REFERENCES

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[7] http://www.its-romania.ro/
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