Optimizing Traffic Organization in Urban Intersections: A Simulation Study

As important nodes on urban roads, intersections are prone to cause traffic jams and chaos. Therefore, the traffic organization of intersection is closely related to the overall performance level of the urban road net. It’s necessary to improve traffic organization of existed intersections, so that the capacity of at-grade intersections can be enhanced, the traffic congestion of urban roads can be alleviated, to a certain degree. This research includes two major parts. The first part is studying the theories about timing signal control based on the running mechanism of at-grade intersection’s traffic flow from the perspective of both time and space, in order to find efficient ways to optimize intersection’s traffic organization. The second part is conducting a further optimization and modification on road channelization and signal control combining the above-mentioned theory with current status, eventually establishing a feasible and effective scheme. The following step is applying the micro traffic simulation software VISSIM to evaluate the present traffic of the XiYing Road-XiYan Road intersection in Xi’An based on relevant data.