Reduction of Traffic Delays in Speed Control at Regulated Intersections

Modern cities face the problem of inefficient use of transport infrastructure during the off-peak period, when traffic intensity is significantly lower than peak values. Traditional traffic light control systems do not fully take into account the changing traffic intensity and the specific character of traffic flow during off-peak hours. As a result, vehicles are forced to stand idle at regulated intersections even if there is no traffic flow in the conflicting driving direction. This leads to increased delays, an unjustified increase in travel time, additional fuel consumption and, as a result, to economic losses and increased emissions of pollutants. The purpose of this study is to assess the reduction of vehicle delays when organizing non-stop traffic through intersections of the road network using the recommended speed of vehicles in the group. The study is based on analytical modeling of the process of moving a queue of non-group vehicles, calculating time dependencies at various starting accelerations (0.8-2.8 m/s2), and evaluating the environmental and economic effectiveness of the proposed approach. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the developed computational model for determining the recommended speed, taking into account the influence of the departure of non-group vehicles and the length of the stage on the conditions of non-stop travel. The simulation results show that driving at the recommended speed reduces traffic delays by up to 9.5%, reduces total CO and PM2.5 emissions by 14%, and reduces fuel consumption by up to 25% compared with the free-range mode of vehicles.