A Data-Driven Intersection Geometry Mapping Technique to Enhance the Scalability of Trajectory-Based Traffic Signal Performance Measures

Connected vehicle (CV) trajectory data provides practitioners with opportunities to assess traffic signal performance with no investment in detection or communication infrastructure. With over 500 billion trajectory records generated each month in the United States, operations can be evaluated virtually at any of the over 400,000 traffic signals in the nation. The manual intersection mapping required to generate accurate movement-level trajectory-based performance estimations is the most time-consuming aspect of using CV data to evaluate traffic signal operations. Various studies have utilized vehicle location data to update and create maps;however, most proposed mapping techniques focus on the identification of roadway characteristics that facilitate vehicle navigation and not on the scaling of traffic signal performance measures. This paper presents a technique that uses commercial CV trajectory and open-source OpenStreetMap (OSM) data to automatically map intersection centers and approach areas of interest to estimate signal performance. OSM traffic signal tags are processed to obtain intersection centers. CV data is then used to extract intersection geometry characteristics surrounding the intersection. To demonstrate the proposed technique, intersection geometry is mapped at 500 locations from which trajectory-based traffic signal performance measures are estimated. The results are compared to those obtained from manual geometry definitions. Statistical tests found that at a 99% confidence level, upstream-focused performance estimations are strongly correlated between both methodologies. The presented technique will aid agencies in scaling traffic signal assessment as it significantly reduces the amount of manual labor required.

Safety Performance Functions for Traffic Signals:Phasing and Geometry

A significant proportion of urban crashes,especially serious and fatal crashes,occur at traffic signals.Many of the black-spots in both Australia and New Zealand cities occur at high volume and/or high-speed traffic signals.Given this,crash reduction studies often focus on the major signalised intersections.However,there is limited information that links the phasing configuration,degree of saturation and overall cycle time to crashes.While a number of analysis tools are available for assessing the efficiency of intersections,there are very few tools that can assist engineers in assessing the safety effects of intersection upgrades and new intersections.Safety performance functions have been developed to help quantify the safety impact of various traffic signal phasing configurations and level of intersection congestion at low and high-speed traffic signals in New Zealand and Australia.Data from 238 signalised intersection sites in Auckland,Wellington,Christchurch,Hamilton,Dunedin and Melbourne was used to develop crash prediction models for key crash-causing movements at traffic signals.Different variables(road features)effect each crash type.The models indicate that the safety of intersections can be improved by longer cycle times and longer lost inter-green times,especially all-red time,using fully protected right turns and by extending the length of right turn bays.The exception is at intersections with lots of pedestrians where shorter cycle times are preferred as pedestrian crashes increase with longer wait times.A number of factors have a negative impact on safety including,free left turns,more approach lanes,intersection arms operating near or over capacity in peak periods and higher speed limits.

An integrated and cooperative architecture for multi-intersection traffic signal control

Traffic signal control(TSC)systems are one essential component in intelligent transport systems.However,relevant studies are usually independent of the urban traffic simulation environment,collaborative TSC algorithms and traffic signal communication.In this paper,we propose(1)an integrated and cooperative Internet-of-Things architecture,namely General City Traffic Computing System(GCTCS),which simultaneously leverages an urban traffic simulation environment,TSC algorithms,and traffic signal communication;and(2)a general multi-agent reinforcement learning algorithm,namely General-MARL,considering cooperation and communication between traffic lights for multi-intersection TSC.In experiments,we demonstrate that the integrated and cooperative architecture of GCTCS is much closer to the real-life traffic environment.The General-MARL increases the average movement speed of vehicles in traffic by 23.2%while decreases the network latency by 11.7%.

Connected Vehicle-Based Traffic Signal Coordination

This study presents a connected vehicles(CVs)-based traffic signal optimization framework for a coordinated arterial corridor.The signal optimization and coordination problem are first formulated in a centralized scheme as a mixed-integer nonlinear program(MINLP).The optimal phase durations and offsets are solved together by minimizing fuel consumption and travel time considering an individual vehicle’s trajectories.Due to the complexity of the model,we decompose the problem into two levels:an intersection level to optimize phase durations using dynamic programming(DP),and a corridor level to optimize the offsets of all intersections.In order to solve the two-level model,a prediction-based solution technique is developed.The proposed models are tested using traffic simulation under various scenarios.Compared with the traditional actuated signal timing and coordination plan,the signal timing plans generated by solving the MINLP and the two-level model can reasonably improve the signal control performance.When considering varies vehicle types under high demand levels,the proposed two-level model reduced the total system cost by 3.8%comparing to baseline actuated plan.MINLP reduced the system cost by 5.9%.It also suggested that coordination scheme was beneficial to corridors with relatively high demand levels.For intersections with major and minor street,coordination conducted for major street had little impacts on the vehicles at the minor street.

Longitudinal Performance Assessment of Traffic Signal System Impacted by Long-Term Interstate Construction Diversion Using Connected Vehicle Data

Local arterials can be significantly impacted by diversions from adjacent work zones. These diversions often occur on unofficial detour routes due to guidance received on personal navigation devices. Often, these routes do not have sufficient sensing or communication equipment to obtain infrastructure-based traffic signal performance measures, so other data sources are required to identify locations being significantly affected by diversions. This paper examines the network impact caused by the start of an 18-month closure of the I-65/70 interchange (North Split), which usually serves approximately 214,000 vehicles per day in Indianapolis, IN. In anticipation of some proportion of the public diverting from official detour routes to local streets, a connected vehicle monitoring program was established to provide daily performances measures for over 100 intersections in the area without the need for vehicle sensing equipment. This study reports on 13 of the most impacted signals on an alternative arterial to identify locations and time of day where operations are most degraded, so that decision makers have quantitative information to make informed adjustments to the system. Individual vehicle movements at the studied locations are analyzed to estimate changes in volume, split failures, downstream blockage, arrivals on green, and travel times. Over 130,000 trajectories were analyzed in an 11-week period. Weekly afternoon peak period volumes increased by approximately 455%, split failures increased 3%, downstream blockage increased 10%, arrivals on green decreased 16%, and travel time increase 74%. The analysis performed in this paper will serve as a framework for any agency that wants to assess traffic signal performance at hundreds of locations with little or no existing sensing or communication infrastructure to prioritize tactical retiming and/or longer-term infrastructure investments.

Optimizing Traffic Signals in Smart Cities Based on Genetic Algorithm

Current traffic signals in Jordan suffer from severe congestion due to many factors,such as the considerable increase in the number of vehicles and the use of fixed timers,which still control existing traffic signals.This condition affects travel demand on the streets of Jordan.This study aims to improve an intelligent road traffic management system(IRTMS)derived from the human community-based genetic algorithm(HCBGA)to mitigate traffic signal congestion in Amman,Jordan’s capital city.The parameters considered for IRTMS are total time and waiting time,and fixed timers are still used for control.By contrast,the enhanced system,called enhanced-IRTMS(E-IRTMS),considers additional important parameters,namely,the speed performance index(SPI),speed reduction index(SRI),road congestion index(R i),and congestion period,to enhance IRTMS decision.A significant reduction in congestion period was measured using E-IRTMS,improving by 13% compared with that measured using IRTMS.Meanwhile,the IRTMS result surpasses that of the current traffic signal system by approximately 83%.This finding demonstrates that the E-IRTMS based on HCBGA and with unfixed timers achieves shorter congestion period in terms of SPI,SRI,and R_(i) compared with IRTMS.

Integrated Performance Measures for Bus Rapid Transit System and Traffic Signal Systems Using Trajectory Data

Bus rapid transit (BRT) systems have been implemented in many cities over the past two decades. Widespread adoption of General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), the deployment of high-fidelity bus GPS data tracking, and anonymized high-fidelity connected vehicle data from private vehicles have provided new opportunities for performance measures that can be used by both transit agencies and traffic signal system operators. This paper describes the use of trajectory-based data to develop performance measures for a BRT system in Indianapolis, Indiana. Over 3 million data records during the 3-month period between March and May 2022 are analyzed to develop visualizations and performance metrics. A methodology to estimate the average delay and schedule adherence is presented along a route comprised of 74 signals and 28 bus stations. Additionally, this research demonstrates how these performance measures can be used to evaluate dedicated and non-dedicated bus lanes with general traffic. Travel times and reliability of buses are compared with nearly 30 million private vehicle trips. Results show that median travel time for buses on dedicated bi-directional lanes is within one minute of general traffic and during peak periods the buses are often faster. Schedule adherence was observed to be more challenging, with approximately 3% of buses arriving within 1 minute on average during the 5AM hour and 5% of buses arriving 6 - 9 minutes late during the 5PM hour. The framework and performance measures presented in this research provide agencies and transportation professionals with tools to identify opportunities for adjustments and to justify investment decisions.

Traffic Signal Timing via Deep Reinforcement Learning

In this paper, we propose a set of algorithms to design signal timing plans via deep reinforcement learning. The core idea of this approach is to set up a deep neural network(DNN) to learn the Q-function of reinforcement learning from the sampled traffic state/control inputs and the corresponding traffic system performance output. Based on the obtained DNN,we can find the appropriate signal timing policies by implicitly modeling the control actions and the change of system states.We explain the possible benefits and implementation tricks of this new approach. The relationships between this new approach and some existing approaches are also carefully discussed.

A Survey of Model Predictive Control Methods for Traffic Signal Control

Enhancing traffic efficiency and alleviating(even circumventing) traffic congestion with advanced traffic signal control(TSC) strategies are always the main issues to be addressed in urban transportation systems. Since model predictive control(MPC) has a lot of advantages in modeling complex dynamic systems, it has been widely studied in traffic signal control over the past 20 years. There is a need for an in-depth understanding of MPC-based TSC methods for traffic networks. Therefore, this paper presents the motivation of using MPC for TSC and how MPC-based TSC approaches are implemented to manage and control the dynamics of traffic flows both in urban road networks and freeway networks. Meanwhile, typical performance evaluation metrics, solution methods, examples of simulations,and applications related to MPC-based TSC approaches are reported. More importantly, this paper summarizes the recent developments and the research trends in coordination and control of traffic networks with MPC-based TSC approaches. Remaining challenges and open issues are discussed towards the end of this paper to discover potential future research directions.

Joint optimization traffic signal control for an urban arterial road

This paper considers the optimal traffic signal setting for an urban arterial road.By introducing the concepts of synchronization rate and non-synchronization degree,a mathematical model is constructed and an optimization problem is posed.Then,a new iterative algorithm is developed to solve this optimal traffic control signal setting problem.Convergence properties for this iterative algorithm are established.Finally,a numerical example is solved to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.

Tri-level programming model for combined urban traffic signal control and traffic flow guidance

In order to balance the temporal-spatial distribution of urban traffic flow, a model is established for combined urban traffic signal control and traffic flow guidance. With consideration of the wide use of fixed signal control at intersections, traffic assignment under traffic flow guidance, and dynamic characteristics of urban traffic management, a tri-level programming model is presented. To reflect the impact of intersection delay on traffic assignment, the lower level model is set as a modified user equilibrium model. The middle level model, which contains several definitional constraints for different phase modes, is built for the traffic signal control optimization. To solve the problem of tide lane management, the upper level model is built up based on nonlinear 0-1 integer programming. A heuristic iterative optimization algorithm(HIOA) is set up to solve the tri-level programming model. The lower level model is solved by method of successive averages(MSA), the middle level model is solved by non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II(NSGA II), and the upper level model is solved by genetic algorithm(GA). A case study is raised to show the efficiency and applicability of the proposed modelling and computing method.

Cell transmission model based traffic signal timing in oversaturated conditions

In order to investigate enhancements to cell transmission model (CTM) as a tool for traffic signal timing in oversaturated conditions, randomly distributed saturation flow rates and arrival rates were used instead of constant values to simulate traffic flow movement, estimate the average delay of the network and search for an optimal traffic signal timing plan. A case study was given to demonstrate that the proposed methodology can capture unique phenomena in oversaturated conditions such as forward wave, spillback and lane entrance blockage. The results show that CTM underestimates travel time by 25% when compared to Simtraffic, while the enhanced CTM underestimates by only 3%. A second case study shows that a dynamic signal timing plan is superior to a fixed signal timing plan in the term of average delay.

Modulating Traffic Signal Phases to Realize Real-Time Traffic Control System

This paper proposes innovations to address challenges emanating from road traffic congestion. Improving economies create more car owners resulting in increased automobile manufacturing, increased vehicle population giving rise to higher emission of CO2 resulting in traffic congestion. Congested traffic has idling vehicles which emit higher CO2 and pollution. Besides, traffic congestion increases turnaround time, delivery time, commuting time and related logistical aspects. Commuting time negatively impacts working hours. Unless the traffic congestion is mitigated, the economy will take a beating creating a vicious ecology cycle. Building new roads, bridges or reconditioning of infrastructure is not always the best possible solutions. Efficient traffic management is a key to country’s economic growth. Various analytical models are employed to study, appreciate traffic congestion. The paper studies these models to infer that real time approach is the only solution. Several approaches are being worked on and few commercial systems too are available. These systems provide traffic information for course correction. However, it has latency and hence deviates from real time environment. Traffic congestion being highly dynamic in nature, it necessitates real time solution with real time inputs. It is proposed to integrate Real time traffic data with the traffic signal thus modulating the cycle timings at every junction. Deviation from static asymmetric cycle timing is implemented by assigning green phases based on density of vehicles. With minimalistic infrastructure and negligible incremental cost, the paper not only proposes to address traffic congestion but also paves the way for capturing traffic offenses, vehicle tracking and toll collection. The research is imminently realizable and makes a strong case for a PPP (Public Private Partnership) project.

Traffic Signals Control with Adaptive Fuzzy Controller in Urban Road Network

An adaptive fuzzy logic controller (AFC) is presented for the signal control of the urban traffic network. The AFC is composed of the signal control system-oriented control level and the signal controller-oriented fuzzy rules regulation level. The control level decides the signal timings in an intersection with a fuzzy logic controller. The regulation level optimizes the fuzzy rules by the Adaptive Rule Module in AFC according to both the system performance index in current control period and the traffic flows in the last one. Consequently the system performances are improved. A weight coefficient controller (WCC) is also developed to describe the interactions of traffic flow among the adjacent intersections. So the AFC combined with the WCC can be applied in a road network for signal timings. Simulations of the AFC on a real traffic scenario have been conducted. Simulation results indicate that the adaptive controller for traffic control shows better performance than the actuated one.

FL-FN-MOGA Based Traffic Signal Control

In this paper, a traffic signal control method based on fuzzy logic (FL), fuzzy-neuro (FN) and multi-objective genetic algorithms (MOGA) for an isolated four-approach intersection with through and left-turning movements is presented. This method has an adaptive signal timing ability, and can make adjustments to signal timing in response to observed changes. The 'urgency degree' term, which can describe the different user's demand for green time is used in decision-making by which strategy of signal timing can be determined. Using a fuzzy logic controller, we can determine whether to extend or terminate the current signal phase and select the sequences of phases. In this paper, a method based on fuzzy-neuro can be used to predict traffic parameters used in fuzzy logic controller. The feasibility of using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to find a group of optimizing sets of parameters for fuzzy logic controller depending on different objects is also demonstrated. Simulation results show that the proposed methed is effecfive to adjust the signal timing in response to changing traffic conditions on a real-time basis, and the controller can produce lower vehicle delays and percentage of stopped vehicles than a traffic-actuated controller.

Real-Time Traffic Signal Timing for Urban Road Multi-Intersection

this paper develops a real-time traffic signal timing model which is to be integrated into a single intersection for urban road, thereby solving the problem of traffic congestion. We analyze the current situation of the traffic flow with release matrix firstly, and then put forward the basic models to minimize total delay time of vehicles at the intersection. The optimal real-time signal timing model (non-fixed cycle and non-fixed split) is built with the Webster split optimal model. At last, the simulated results, which are compared with conventional model, manifest the promising properties of proposed model.

Using big data and machine learning to rank traffic signals in Tennessee

This paper discusses low-cost approaches capable of ranking traffic intersections for the purpose of signal re-timing.We extracted intersections that are comprised of multiple roads,defined by alphanumeric traffic message channel segment codes per international classification standards.Each of these road segments includes a variety of metrics,including congestion,planning time index,and bottleneck ranking information provided by the Regional Integrated Transportation Information System.Our first approach was to use a ranking formula to calculate intersection rankings using a score between 0 and 10 by considering data for different times of the day and different days of the week,weighting weekdays more heavily than weekends and morning and evening commute times more heavily than other times of day.The second method was to utilize unsupervised machine learning algorithms,primarily k-means clustering,to accomplish the intersection ranking task.We first approach this by checking the performance of basic k-means clustering on our data set.We then explore the ranking problem further by utilizing data provided by traffic professionals in the state of Tennessee.This exploration involves using MATLAB to minimize the mean-squared error of intersection rankings to determine the optimum weights in the ranking formula based on a city’s professional data.We then attempted an optimization of our weights via a brute-force search approach to minimize the distance from ranking formula results to the clustering results.All the ranking information was aggregated into an online SQL database hosted by Amazon web services that utilized the PHP scripting language.

A multi process value-based reinforcement learning environment framework for adaptive traffic signal control

Realising adaptive traffic signal control(ATSC)through reinforcement learning(RL)is an important means to easetraffic congestion.This paper finds the computing power of the central processing unit(CPU)cannot fully usedwhen Simulation of Urban MObility(SUMO)is used as an environment simulator for RL.We propose a multi-process framework under value-basedRL.First,we propose a shared memory mechanism to improve exploration efficiency.Second,we use the weight sharing mechanism to solve the problem of asynchronous multi-process agents.We also explained the reason shared memory in ATSC does not lead to early local optima of the agent.Wehave verified in experiments the sampling efficiency of the 10-process method is 8.259 times that of the single process.The sampling efficiency of the 20-process method is 13.409 times that of the single process.Moreover,the agent can also converge to the optimal solution.

Evaluation of Arterial Signal Coordination with Commercial Connected Vehicle Data: Empirical Traffic Flow Visualization and Performance Measurement

Emerging connected vehicle (CV) data sets have recently become commercially available, enabling analysts to develop a variety of powerful performance measures without deploying any field infrastructure. This paper presents several tools using CV data to evaluate traffic progression quality along a signalized corridor. These include both performance measures for high-level analysis as well as visualizations to examine details of the coordinated operation. With the use of CV data, it is possible to assess not only the movement of traffic on the corridor but also to consider its origin-destination (O-D) path through the corridor. Results for the real-world operation of an eight-intersection signalized arterial are presented. A series of high-level performance measures are used to evaluate overall performance by time of day, with differing results by metric. Next, the details of the operation are examined with the use of two visualization tools: a cyclic time-space diagram (TSD) and an empirical platoon progression diagram (PPD). Comparing flow visualizations developed with different included O-D paths reveals several features, such as the presence of secondary and tertiary platoons on certain sections that cannot be seen when only end-to-end journeys are included. In addition, speed heat maps are generated, providing both speed performance along the corridor and locations and the extent of the queue. The proposed visualization tools portray the corridor’s performance holistically instead of combining individual signal performance metrics. The techniques exhibited in this study are compelling for identifying locations where engineering solutions such as access management or timing plan change are required. The recent progress in infrastructure-free sensing technology has significantly increased the scope of CV data-based traffic management systems, enhancing the significance of this study. The study demonstrates the utility of CV trajectory data for obtaining high-level details of the corridor performance as well as drilling down into the minute specifics.