Optimising traffic flow at a signalised intersection using simulation

Traffic signal lights system is a signalling device located at an intersection or pedestrian crossing to control the movement of traffic. The timing of traffic signal lights has attracted many researchers to study the problems involving traffic light management and looking for an inexpensive and effective solution that requires inexpensive changes in the infrastructures. A simple traffic lights system uses a pre-timed control setting based on the latest traffic data, and the setting could be manually changed. It is a common type of signal control and sometimes the setting was not correctly configured with the traffic data, thus leading to congestion at an intersection. Many mathematical strategies were applied to get an optimal setting. This study aims to model the traffic flow at Persiaran Kayangan and Persiaran Permai Intersection, Section 7, Shah Alam, as the case study, by using AnyLogic simulation software. The model was used to determine the best timings of traffic green lights that minimise the average time at the intersection and reduce traffic congestion. The findings showed that the best timings of traffic green lights for four directions at the intersection are 120 seconds, 75 seconds, 130 seconds and 100 seconds, respectively. These timings of green lights produced the lowest average time at the intersection (55.65 seconds)