Dynamic Lane-Based Signal Merge Control for Freeway Work Zone Operations
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 145, Issue 12
Abstract
Traditional merge control strategies cannot yield the expected effectiveness under heavy traffic conditions at freeway work zones because inevitable traffic conflicts resulting from complex merging and lane-changing maneuvers could increase the potential of traffic collisions, induce stop-and-go movements, and degrade the operational efficiency. This paper presents a dynamic control model to optimize the signal operations of a new merge system, the lane-based signal merge (LBSM), which uses lane-based signals or variable signs to give drivers in different lanes the right of way to proceed through the open lane(s) in a work zone area. The control objective is to maximize the work zone throughput. A genetic algorithm is employed to solve the model. Results reveal that the proposed method yields promising work zone operational performance under heavy traffic conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the support of the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20151464). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of these funding bodies.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 145 • Issue 12 • December 2019
Copyright
©2019 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 6, 2017
Accepted: Jan 11, 2019
Published online: Oct 9, 2019
Published in print: Dec 1, 2019
Discussion open until: Mar 9, 2020
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