Gray Areas in Isolated Intersection Control-Type Selection: Complementary Decision-Support Tool
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part A: Systems
Volume 143, Issue 11
Abstract
The intersection control-type selections for future facilities can be determined by comparison of a common measure of effectiveness that is average control delay. However, rigid comparisons of such measures tend to mislead the decision-making process in practice, since there must be latent factors in quantification. To this end, this paper proposes the performance comparison framework of different transportation facility alternatives using a common quantitative measure. By considering the uncertainties in a quantification process, the proposed framework provides gray areas (i.e., intuitively visualized information, which decision-makers can use to assist in their engineering decisions). The average control delay of two-way stop control, all-way stop control, signal control types, and roundabouts were compared with contour lines of delay differences. It is found that the delay of a roundabout increases rapidly as the traffic demand increases. Hence, a signal control type has the minimum delay level in that case, despite the fact that the roundabout outperforms for most of the low-demand conditions. When the signal timing plan is optimized, this feature becomes evident. With consideration of the margin of error in the delay, a gray area on the minimum delay surface between the signal control and roundabout types enlarges in the low-demand area. The gray areas can be utilized by practitioners to decide the best intersection control type with consideration of construction and maintenance costs over delay reduction benefit.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Southeastern Transportation Center of U.S. Department of Transportation.
References
Akcelik, R. (1981). “Traffic signals: Capacity and timing analysis.”, Australian Road Research Board, Vermont South, VIC, Australia.
Benekohal, R. F., and El-Zohairy, Y. M. (2001). “Multi-regime arrival rate uniform delay models for signalized intersections.” Transp. Res. Part A Policy Pract., 35(7), 625–667.
Daganzo, C. F. (1987). “Increasing model precision can reduce accuracy.” Transp. Sci., 21(2), 100–105.
Fambro, D., and Rouphail, N. (1997). “Generalized delay model for signalized intersections and arterial streets.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1572, 112–121.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). (2009). Manual on uniform traffic control devices for streets and highways, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
Han, L., Li, J.-M., and Urbanik, T. (2008). “Control-type selection at isolated intersections based on control delay under various demand levels.” Transp. Res. Rec., 2071, 109–116.
Khatib, Z., and Kyte, M. (2000). “Framework to consider the effect of uncertainty in forecasting the level of service of signalized and unsignalized intersections.” Proc., 4th Int. Symp. on Highway Capacity, Transportation Research Board, Maui, HI, 348–356.
Kimber, R. M., McDonald, M., and Hounsell, N. B. (1986). “The prediction of saturation flows for single road junctions controlled by traffic signals.”, Transport and Road Research Laboratory, Wokingham, U.K.
Rodegerdts, L., et al. (2010). “Roundabouts: An informational guide.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Sazi Murat, Y. (2006). “Comparison of fuzzy logic and artificial neural networks approaches in vehicle delay modeling.” Transp. Res. Part C Emerging Technol., 14(5), 316–334.
Tarko, A. P., and Tracz, M. (2000). “Uncertainty in saturation flow predictions.” Proc., 4th Int. Symp. on Highway Capacity, Transportation Research Board, Maui, HI, 310–321.
Tian, Z., Urbanik, T., Engelbrecht, R., and Balke, K. (2002). “Variations in capacity and delay estimates from microscopic traffic simulation models.” Transp. Res. Rec., 1802, 23–31.
TRB (Transportation Research Board). (2000). Highway capacity manual 2000, Washington, DC.
TRB (Transportation Research Board). (2010). Highway capacity manual 2010, Washington, DC.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 1, 2017
Accepted: May 11, 2017
Published online: Sep 5, 2017
Published in print: Nov 1, 2017
Discussion open until: Feb 5, 2018
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.