Queue discharge characteristics at signalised intersections under mixed traffic conditions

Abstract

The evaluation of capacity at signalized intersection is an important component in the planning, design, operation and management of transportation system. Presently, the methodologies available for the estimation of capacity of signalised intersections are based on the concept of saturation flow (s). The study describes the headway, speed, and acceleration characteristics of vehicles during queue discharge after green onset under mixed traffic condition. For the present work data were collected at different signalized intersections in the city of Bhubaneswar, India under mixed traffic conditions. It has been found that the queue discharge headways shows an unmistakable pattern of gradual compression as queuing vehicles are discharged in succession. In this paper the speed at which the vehicles move during queue discharge for three different categories of vehicles (2wheeler, 3-wheeler, and car) are also analysed. The acceleration characteristics of different category of vehicles released from stop after the green onset are also analysed in this paper and are explained by the non-uniform acceleration model in the form of (dv/dt) = α – βv. The average values of α and β for different category of vehicles are estimated.