Quantification of Congestion in Signalized Intersection Based on Loop Detector Data

Most achieved quantification methods for congestion in traffic engineering are designed for the freeway. Those methods which use operational characteristics (e.g., delay, speed and occupation etc.) as quantification indexes are inconvenient to be used on signalized intersection, since these indexes usually have a large variance with the effected of many factors in intersections, such as traffic control and traffic design. This paper presents a concept, which combines traffic demand and traffic supply into a whole, to describe the congestion in signalized intersection based on loop detector data. Our method is convenient for the application, since it only needs volume data in stopline. Moreover this method is useful for the traffic control system and traffic guidance system. The quantification of congestion for the lane group, approach and intersection can provide useful information for the optimization of traffic control strategies, and provide forecasted traffic state information which can meet the users' requirement in traffic system.