Dynamics of Vehicle Discharge at Signalized Intersections with Nonlane-based Mixed Traffic Operations

Abstract

Vehicle discharge is a major factor that influences the design of traffic signals. Emerging countries with nonlane-based mixed traffic operations have distinctly different vehicle discharge characteristics compared with countries with disciplined traffic operations. In the case of nonlane-based traffic, vehicles occupy any available space near an intersection and do not necessarily form a lane-based queue. As a result, prevailing trends of vehicle discharge characteristics, such as discharge headway and queue discharge rate, are not directly applicable. In this study, a new measure, the vehicle passing interval, was adopted to investigate the dynamics of vehicle discharge in such traffic conditions. A case study was conducted using several two-lane signalized approaches in Kolkata, India. The vehicle passing interval was found to be effective in capturing heterogeneity with respect to vehicle category, the lateral and longitudinal position of vehicles, and variation in discharge rate over different intervals of green time.