Offset optimization of traffic signals to maximize green time overlap considering the vehicle arrival profile for two-dimensional networks

To reduce congestion on arterial roads, many comprehensive studies on corridor traffic signal control for arterial roads have been performed. However, it is difficult to apply these signal control methods to urban road networks in which most of the links are major roads and none has priority for traffic control over another. To solve congestion problems in urban road networks, we propose an algorithm to optimize the offset value of each intersection by considering the boundary conditions of the offset values at adjacent intersections and the estimated vehicle arrival profile. The proposed algorithm maximizes the overlap of green time among adjacent intersections, where the traveling time of each link is taken into account to estimate the green time overlap and predict the vehicle profile using the TRANSYT model. Traffic simulations were performed using AVENUE, and the proposed algorithm was proved to improve the traffic efficiency. In this study, simulations were performed under the conditions of under-saturated traffic.