Research On Factors Analysis And Control Methods Of The Mid-block Crosswalks Signal Setting

There are lots of mid-block crosswalks on the urban roads which can be controlled by fixed-time signal or responsive signal or no signal setting. If the signal of mid-block crosswalks was set inappropriately, which would cause vehicles not to travel smoothly, and increase vehicle delays and to exacerbate the noise pollution and air pollution. Meanwhile, the inappropriate signal setting would also affect the pedestrian crossing, for example, crossing time may not enough, or waiting time is too long etc., which would cause pedestrian violation crossing. As a result, not only does it decrease the pedestrian safety, but also increase the vehicle delay.Aiming at above problems, this paper researches the signal coordination optimization setting methods of mid-block crosswalks. Before the introduction of signal setting of mid-block crosswalks, the paper analyzes two factors affecting signal control effects of mid-block crosswalks detailedly:pedestrian cross characteristic and vehicles travel characteristic. After get a clear understanding of these characteristics, the paper takes the pedestrian priority at crosswalk as the principle which guarantees pedestrian safety at first, then pays attention to the efficiency of road users in order to pursue the best whole benefit. Besides these, compare red time with pedestrian waiting limits to make sure the red time is in the waiting limits so that, the violation probability and the traffic accident rate will be decreased. When calculating the pedestrian green time, take fully into account the pedestrian start time and the relationship between the pedestrian cross speed and the pedestrian volume. Consequently, calculated pedestrian green time is sufficient for the need time of all the pedestrians. When signal optimizing, take the common red time of the adjacent intersections as the pedestrian green time firstly. If the common red time is not sufficient for pedestrians'crossing, the optimal time of green lights beginning can be fixed by delay functions which make use of the traffic platoon's characteristic of dispersion and flow rate, in order to minimize vehicle delay at crosswalks. At last, simulate the signal setting method of this paper by Vissim. The results show that this method can increase the ratio of pedestrians obey the rules and pedestrian safety, and decrease the vehicles delay.The signal setting method proposed by this paper enriches and develops signal setting methods of urban roads, which has theoretical and practical significance.This paper is finished by relying on the one of national science and technology key projects "Research on Urban Synthesis Transportation System Function Advance and Key Techniques of Facilities Construction". The paper contains five chapters, of which the second, third and forth chapter is the core parts. The main contents of each chapter are as follows.The first chapter of this thesis introduces the research background of this text, and analyzes the purpose and significance of this research. Meanwhile, this part establishes frame structure of the paper based on the review and summary of research results both at home and abroad, thus lays a foundation for subsequent research work. The second chapter analyzes the pedestrian characteristics, such as crossing start time, crossing speed and crossing delay. The third chapter analyzes the vehicle characteristic from traffic platoon's dispersion, and vehicles travel time of road section travelling, and traffic platoon's affection by intersections' signal as well as vehicle delay. The forth chapter introduces the idea and process of mid-block crosswalk signal setting at first. Secondly, present calculating methods of crosswalk capacity, basic parameters and coordination parameters. Finally, simulate the effects of signal coordination control of mid-block crosswalk. The last chapter gives a summary of the full text, and reviews the research contents and progress of this paper, finally, puts forward the issue to be further explored.