OPTIMIZATION OF SIGNAL DISPLAY PATTERNS USING SOCIAL EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND MICRO TRAFFIC SIMULATION

Abstract

 Currently, as traffic congestion becomes more serious, implementing efficient and effective traffic congestion countermeasures becomes crucial. Of which micro traffic simulations appear to be a dominant solution. This method enables us to capture the effects of traffic congestion mitigation and its impact on the surrounding traffic flow. This study is a part of the Sapporo New Road Facilitation Conference. The purpose is to optimize the traffic control at intersections of Sapporo Shinkawa Interchange, where traffic congestion occurs regularly. We conducted the analysis using social experiment data and micro-traffic simulation over three years. First, we developed a simulation model using the social experiment data to reproduce the current situation. From this model, we extracted the optimal signal timing phase. Then, a post-evaluation of traffic congestion countermeasures by traffic simulation was conducted based on the results of the field implementation of the extracted signal display patterns. The results confirmed the usefulness of the optimization study of traffic congestion countermeasures using social experiment data and traffic simulation.