Traffic Signal Timing at Semi-Protected Left-Turn Intersections for Energy Saving

에너지절약을 위한 반보호 좌회전 교차로의 신호시간설계

Transportation energy saving is a national concern because all national petroleum energy is imported. A number of intersections are operating as semi-protected intersections, which have left-turn signal but not exclusive left-turn lanes, because of limited roadways in urban areas. Since the traffic signal methods for the intersections having left-turn signal/lanes cannot be applied to the semi-protected intersection, it is needed to develop a new technique. The purpose of this study was to develop a traffic signal timing method at semi-protected intersections for energy saving and to computerize the method for the practical use. A probability model which could estimate left-turn utilization factors of through traffic during green signal was developed based on field studies. Employing the factors, macro-models to estimate vehicular average delay and proportions of vehicles stopped at the semiprotected intersections were developed. The calculated values of the delay model agreed well with the simulated values of a simulation model using SLAM Ⅱ, a simulation language. Using the two models and the idling fuel consumption rate and the excess fuel consumption per stop-go speed change of vehicles. a traffic signal timing method at semi-protected intersections for energy saving was developed and computerized. The method can be used for other measures of effectiveness such as minimum delay, minimum stop ratio, etc.