Study on signal timing based on the minimum of traffic conflict intensity for urban intersections

In order to quantify the impact of traffic conflict on the travel time of intersection,conflict intensity is defined and divided into three types including no conflict occurring,conflict occurring and waiting behind stop line.Three models for conflict intensity are developed based on traffic flow,conflict point and intersection respectively.The calculating model for green time is analyzed when conflict intensity minimizes,an application to actual intersection is studied finally.The results indicate that conflict intensity decreases to minimum value then increases with green time increasing under different cycle length and there must be an optimal green time corresponding to minimum conflict intensity,which can be applied to intersection planning and design.