A Lane-group Based Macroscopic Model for Signalized Intersections Account for Shared Lanes and Blockages

This paper presents a macroscopic model of traffic able to replicate the key features occurring at signalized intersections. Different from the previous link or movement based traffic flow models, the proposed model considers explicitly queue accumulation and dissipation at the lane-group level, in order to facilitate modeling the discharging process for shared lanes. In particular, the proposed model also accounts for the blocking effects between different lane groups due to intersection geometric constraints or improper signal settings, which offer potentials for it to be integrated with optimal control models. The performance of the proposed model applied to a real-world intersection under different demand levels appears to be computer-efficient and convincing when validated by a calibrated microscopic simulation program, VISSIM.