VEHICLE ACTUATED SIGNAL CONTROL FOR LOW CARBON SOCIETY

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to propose and evaluate the vehicle actuated signal control for coordinated intersections to reduce CO₂ emission from the transportation sector for the low carbon society. The study area is a group of 3 signalized intersections locating along the National Highway No. 2 in Phol district, Khon Kean province, Thailand. This study proposed and evaluated the several signal control strategies to increase the effectiveness of these intersections. The proposed strategies consist of i) fixed time control, ii) coordinated control, iii) semi actuated control, and iv) fully actuated control. This study applied the traffic microsimulation to evaluate the proposed strategies. The developed traffic microsimulation model was calibrated by using the traffic data surveyed during the morning peak. The study found that the fully vehicle actuated signal control was the best strategy to improve the level of service of intersections and to reduce CO₂ emission. Average delay, average stop time delay, average maximum queue length and CO₂ emissions of total systems decreased by, 44.7%, 55.2%, 33.0% and 8.7%, when compared with existing fixed time control. Therefore, the fully vehicle actuate signal control could be promoted for the low carbon society.