The Same Entrance Full-Pass (SEFP) Control Method for the Prevention of Over-Saturation at the Critical Intersection

Traffic congestion will lead to a series of negative effects. In order to alleviate congestion and evacuate queuing vehicles as soon as possible, traffic control at the critical intersection is particularly important. In this paper, the Same Entrance Full-Pass (SEFP) control method for the prevention of over-saturation at the critical intersection is proposed, which allows all vehicles coming from the same entrance to be released at the same time, avoiding the drawbacks of the traditional release mode. In the meantime, the three-turn traffic flows moving into the same downstream section of the adjacent intersection are controlled synchronously to limit the number of vehicles heading for the critical intersection effectively. By using the traffic wave theory, the signal offsets between the critical intersection and its adjacent intersections are calculated for signal coordinated control, which can ensure all the vehicles coming from the same entrance pass the stop line of the critical intersection directly with no stop, thus improving the operation efficiency of the critical intersection and preventing the traffic over-saturation. To avoid vehicle retention and accumulation on the entrance lanes of the critical intersection, ground sense coils are employed to detect the vehicle queuing and the closure control is carried out at the adjacent intersections according to the real queue length, making the traffic indexes (the total traffic volume, vehicle delay and queuing length) improved greatly. The simulation results of the actual critical intersection and its adjacent intersections confirm the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed SEFP method.