Title: Improving signalised intersections performance for better built environment

Authors: Mohammad Shareef Ghanim; Ghassan Abu-Lebdeh

Addresses: Civil Engineering Department, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar ' Civil Engineering Department, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: Traffic delays are still a significant part of the daily commutes in most urban areas despite significant investments in infrastructure. Policy, design and operational measures are usually taken to reduce emissions from mobile sources by reducing congestion, promoting modal diversity, or using advanced technologies. Although reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency have resulted from proper traffic control, municipalities and public agencies often overlook the need for better traffic control through revised control schemes. Simple changes to traffic control schemes and/or incremental geometric designs improvements is all that is needed to improve traffic system performance without the need for expensive and highly advanced technologies. In this paper, the issue of using proper signal timing plans at signalised intersections and its effect on traffic operations and environment is highlighted. A real-life example is studied. Careful considerations to signal timings parameters resulted in lower traffic delay, reduced emissions, and better fuel consumption efficiency.

Keywords: vehicle emissions; signalised intersections; signal optimisation; sustainable transport systems; sustainability; sustainable development; intersection performance; built environment; traffic control; signal timing; traffic signals; traffic lights; traffic delay; fuel consumption; fuel efficiency.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSOC.2016.077516

International Journal of Sustainable Society, 2016 Vol.8 No.2, pp.145 - 152

Received: 18 Dec 2014
Accepted: 02 Oct 2015
Published online: 04 Jul 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article