The Simulation of Some Simple Control Policies for a Signalized Intersection

The authors present the results of some simulation studies concerned with the computer control of signalized intersections. The simplest model considered is that of two competing random streams. The transient response and delay/flow characteristics of some simple control procedures are investigated. These are based on the Dunne-Potts policy in which the traffic light is switched when the queue of the road with right of way has been dispersed.The model is then developed to consider four competing streams and the control policies are modified accordingly. Similar results to the two-stream case are presented. In the final section turning vehicles are considered by including eight competing streams in the intersection model.