Studies on coordinated traffic control: Using variable speeds and testing demand predictions

Abstract

Urban mobility is challenged with increasing demand, while at the same time reducing emissions, without leading to an unpleasant living environment. Reducing the number of stops on the urban arterial controlled by the coordinated traffic controller can provide (part of) the solution to these challenges for urban mobility. Coordinated traffic controllers are subject to some limitations, especially regarding coordination between locally optimal signal timing plans and proactive optimization of the coordination with regards to traffic demand. These limitations where explored in this thesis, where a variable speed was proposed to be able to provide coordination between locally optimal signal timing plans and where the usage of predictions with regards to proactive optimizations was tested. A theoretical study showed no realistic potential for coordination between unequal cycle times, however theory does show significant potential of the usage of a variable speed for coordination between locally optimal signal timing plans, when coordinating in two directions. This potential of the variable speed was confirmed by using the MAXBAND model and performing a simulation study, which indicated a significant decrease in stops on the main arterial over optimizing with a fixed speed. Furthermore, the variable speed allowed for a lower network cycle time, which resulted in a decrease in delay on the side directions. Tests of demand predictions in TopTrac yielded no significant improvements of stops nor delay. In the investigated network, control decisions of the coordinated traffic controller did not correlate closely with fluctuating demand, which is needed for a prediction of the demand to produce significant improvements regarding the stops and delay in the network. Future research should focus on the variable speed, evaluating the theoretical applications in other networks and exploring the practical applications, potentially via Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA).