Assessment of the Suitability of Microsimulation as a Tool for the Evaluation of Macroscopically Optimized Traffic Signal Timings
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 2
Abstract
In practice, traffic signal timings are derived using macroscopic tools that are essentially deterministic. Traffic flows, signal phasing, and street geometry are processed to deliver optimized signal timings. Objective functions strive for efficiency through minimizing measures such as delay and journey time. We now have traffic microsimulation tools that model traffic by imitating its stochastic nature. This paper looks at microsimulation as a means of testing optimized signal timings. We assess the suitability of evaluating signal timings optimized macroscopically through microsimulation. We analyze a range of traffic demand and traffic control scenarios. A real-world arterial with 12 signalized intersections serves as a test bed for the experiments. The results show that when macroscopically optimized signal timings are subject to extensive evaluation through microsimulation, their efficiency is shown to be inconsistent. The paper concludes that the traffic microsimulation tools cannot always be relied upon to evaluate macroscopically optimized traffic signal timings because these timings sometimes perform worse, in microsimulation, than the nonoptimized signal timings.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Bloomberg, L., and Dale, J. (2000). “A comparison of the VISSIM and CORSIM traffic simulation models.” Proc., Annual Meeting of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, ITE, Washington, D.C.
Federal Highway Administration (FHwA). (1999). CORSIM user’s manual, version 4.32, Office of Safety and Traffic Operations R & D, Intelligent Systems and Technology Division, McLean, Va.
Hale, D. (2005). “Traffic network study tool, TRANSYT-7F, United States version T7F10.” McTrans Center, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
Husch, D., and Albeck, J. (2003a). SIMTRAFFIC 6, Traffic simulation software—User’s guide, Trafficware Corporation, Albany, Calif.
Husch, D., and Albeck, J. (2003b). SYNCHRO 6, Traffic signal software—User’s guide, Trafficware Corporation, Albany, Calif.
JAMAR Technologies, Inc. (1992). TDC-8 user’s manual, Horsham, Pa.
Lee, S., Messer, C. J., Oh, Y., and Lee, C. (2004). “Assessment of three simulation models for diamond interchange analysis.” J. Transp. Eng., 130(3), 304–312.
Mystkowski, C., and Khan, S. (1999). “Estimating queue lengths using SIGNAL94, SYNCHRO3, TRANSYT-7F, PASSER II_90, and CORSIM.” Proc., 78th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, TRB, Washington, D.C.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). (1997). “Quantifying congestion.” NCHRP Rep. No. 398, TRB, Washington, D.C.
Park, B. B., Rouphail, N. M., Hochanadel, J. P., and Sacks, J. (2001). “Evaluating reliability of TRANSYT-7F optimization schemes.” J. Transp. Eng., 127(4), 319–326.
Park, B. B., Rouphail, N. M., and Sacks, J. (2000). “Assessment of a stochastic signal optimization method using microsimulation.” Technical Rep. No. 110, National Institute of Statistical Sciences, Research Triangle Park, N.C., ⟨http://www.niss.org/technicalreports/tr110.pdf⟩ (April 7, 2004).
Planung Transport Verkehr AG (PTV). (2005). VISSIM 4.10 user’s manual, Stumpfstraße, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Robertson, D. H., Hummer, J. E., and Nelson, D. C. (2000). Manual of transportation engineering studies, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Rouphail, N. M., Park, B. B., and Sacks, J. (2000). “Direct signal timing optimization: Strategy development and results.” Technical Rep. No. 109, National Institute of Statistical Sciences, Research Triangle Park, N.C., ⟨http://www.niss.org/technicalreports/tr109.pdf⟩ (April 7, 2004).
Tarnoff, P. J., and Ordonez, J. (2004). “Signal timing practices and procedures—State of the practice.” Publication No. FWHA-HOP-05-015, Institute of Transportation Engineers, Washington, D.C.
Tian, Z. Z., Urbanik, T., Engelbrecht, R., and Balke, K. (2002). “Variations in capacity and delay estimates from microscopic traffic simulation models.” Transportation Research Record. 1802, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 23–31.
Transportation Research Broad (2000). Highway capacity manual, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Trueblood, M. (2005). “Should I use CORSIM or SIMTRAFFIC?” HRD Engineering, Inc., Omaha, Neb., ⟨www.trafficware.com/downloads/crsmvst.pdf⟩ (May 15, 2005).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 3, 2005
Accepted: Aug 15, 2007
Published online: Feb 1, 2008
Published in print: Feb 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.