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IJESRT
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCES & RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY
STUDY OF AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR CHANDIGARH
Ishant Sharma *, Dr. Pardeep K. Gupta
*
Civil Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology, India
Civil Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology, India

ABSTRACT
The increasing number of vehicles on our road intersections has given rise to the problems like road accidents,
congestions, conflicts and bottlenecks. These problems can now only be solved by providing an efficient traffic control
at intersections and that can be achieved by provision of automated volume based traffic signal system at intersections
for continuous and efficient movement of vehicles through the intersections
Chandigarh the city beautiful though a modern and well planned city, is also facing the same traffic problems.
Here, the present traffic signals are based on the static feed of time without considering the actual available traffic.
This leads to a situation where vehicles wait unnecessarily in one of the lanes while the traffic flow is not up to the
considerable amount in the other lane. This paper provides the feasibility of replacing existing traffic signals with a
system to monitor the traffic flow automatically in traffic signals where sensors are fixed in which the time feed is
made dynamic and automatic by processing the live detections.
The paper deals with the feasibility of provision of inductive loop detection based traffic signals in place of existing
pretimed traffic signals by comparing their performance, suitability and economics.

KEYWORDS: Traffic Control, Inductive loop Detector, PCU, Automatic Traffic Control, Intersection, Traffic Field
Studies.

INTRODUCTION placement of automatic traffic signals at the

Intersections are important part of a road section. intersections to enable the efficient traffic control of
When provided without any proper traffic control traffic and also the faster clearing off the traffic from
measures they end up with congestion and the intersection.
bottleneclks. So, to prevent this issue, these should be Along the Madhya Marg, starting from PGI there
designed on the aim of decreasing It has been observed are11 intersections [4] up to Housing Board Chowk
during this study that many intersections in among them 5 have been converted into signalized
Chandigarh have become inadequate to handle the intersections and 6 are converted into rotaries. The
present day traffic causing congestion [2], signalized intersections are based on fixed time traffic
delays,bottlenecks and accidents particularly during signal system. In this paper, existing traffic conditions
the peak hours as the traffic control system installed at one of the major intersections of Madhya Marg i.e.
on these intersections are pretimed. Transport Chowk was examined and traffic volumes
The efficiency of traffic control at the intersection can and speed data were taken accordingly. The signal
now only be improved by the provision of automatic timings for pretimed traffic signals were redesigned by
traffic signal system which works on real-time making use of Websters/ IRC method and also
detections and eliminates the wastage of green time automatic traffic signals were designed and these both
allotted to a phase. were compared for in terms of their performance and
Madhya Marg is one of the most important roads in economy.
Chandigarh as it connects P.G.I. to Panchkula [1]. In
addition to this, it also provides access to many LITERATURE REVIEW
educational institutes, shopping centers, restaurants, Vidhya & Banu [9] (2014) designed a project to
corporate offices, grain market etc. It is also the only develop a density based dynamic traffic signal system.
route for the traffic moving towards Shimla & Kalka. The project consisted processing of image captured in
So due o the above constraints, its consideration for the traffic signal and then it was converted to grayscale
research works has been arosen which deals with the
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image and after that to calculate the number of The figure 1 shows the existing layout of Transport
vehicles contorurs were drawn to have its threshold. Chowk Intersection and all the dimensions are in
Calculation of number of vehicles gave the density meters.
which was further used for allocating green time to the
traffic on the approach lane by using the Raspberry pi
as a microcontroller.
Karthick et al [10] (2012) proposed a system to analyse
the live video camera recordings to handle the traffic
automatically by allotting green time to the traffic by
calculating the number of vehicles which gives the
traffic density which acted as a input for the algorithm
which was in place for allocating optimal time for the
vehicles to pass the intersection.
Khiang Tan et al [12] (1996) developed a graphical
simulation windows software for the design and
implementation of an automatic traffic lights
controller by making use of fuzzy logic technology
and also compared the designed software results with Figure 1 Existing layout of Tansport Chowk Intersection
conventional lights controller in which the desgned
one was found to be superior in terms of performance Instruments/Gadgets Used
and cost. 1. Sony Handy Cam
Rekha & Karthika [15] (2013) presented a combination 2. Smartphones
of inductive loop sensors and fuzzy logic technology 3. Power Bank
in which inductive loop sensors were responsible for 4. Radar Gun
real-time traffic data and fuzzy logic technology was
responsible for the allotment of green time to the Methods Used:
traffic to clear off the intersection efficiently. This 1. Traffic Volume Study
method was proved to be very effective in handling the 2. Traffic Speed Studies
traffic
Rashid Hussain et al [16] (2013) proposed the concept
INTERSECTION
of Wireless sensor network technology have the real-
time traffic data at an intersection and then to allocate VOLUME
the timings to the traffic to clear off the intersection. COUNTS
This method was proced to be efficient as it didnt
required any built in system in vehicles for its
working.
Shilpa et al [19] (2009) worked on a new technique
Intelligent traffic light controller which was made
by making use of GSM services as it included
providing the information regarding traffic flow to
users by sending SMSs in addition to the sensors
provided on the intersection to allocate the timings to
clear off the intersection. This system was compared
with ficed traffic signals and found to be more
efficient. Figure 2 Location of Traffic Volume Counts
A video of the traffic at Transport Chowk shown in
INSTRUMENTS & METHODS figure 2 was recorded for the duration of continuous
Methodology 12 hours i.e. 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM in order to have the
In present study, firstly, Traffic field studies is used to entire day traffic data [17] and also to identify the peak
have the traffic volume and speed data of the Transport and off peak hours for the traffic flow.
Chowk Intersection which are used as input for the Traffic speed studies was done on the mid-block
redesign of pretimed traffic signals [8] by Websters section each approach lane of the junction by use of
and IRC method and also for the design of automatic Radar gun by taking 50 -100 observations [11] in the
traffic signals. input data.the variation in speed of traffic at all the four
legs is shown in figure 3,4,5 and 6.

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player on laptop by slowing the playback speed in

order to find out the peak hour flow by converting the
vehicles into the PCU i.e. Passenger Car Unit by
making use of the PCU Factors [5] given in table 2

Figure 3 Variation in Speed of traffic in leg 1

Figure 6 Variation in Speed of traffic in leg 4

Table 1. Perecentile Speeds

Approach Lane Percentile Speed
(KM/H)
98th 85th 50th 15th
From PGI 68 52 38 27
From Grain 44 34 24 19
Market
From Housing 68 52 38 28
Figure 4 Variation in Speed of traffic in leg 2 Board
From Industrial 63 50 38 27
Area

Table 2. PCU Factors used for traffic signal design

[5]

Vehicle PCU Factor

Car 1
2W 0.5
3W 1
Bus/Truck 3
Cycle 0.5

Figure 5 Variation in Speed of traffic in leg 3 Rickshaw 1.5

LCV 1.5
Table 1 shows the percentile speeds of all the approach Horse Drawn 4
lanes of Transport Chowk Intersection which are Tractors 4.5
found out from cumulative frequency distribution
curves made from the data collected by making use of
the radar gun.[11] From the figure 7, the peak hour was found to be
From the traffic volume studies, videos are counted for between 9.15-10.15 hours as 7046 PCU/hr. Figure 8
15 minute interval [17] for each 4 hours i.e. 8:00 -12:00, shows the composition of traffic in the entire day and
12:00 16:00 and 16:00 20:00 Hrs on vlc media gives the idea of the traffic being heterogeneous.

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by making use of websters method cycle time is

designed.

Pretimed Traffic Signals

A four phase signal system was designed for the
intersection by making use of Websters method for
signal design and IRC method for the minimum time
for pedestrian crossing.[6]
As the slip roads are already been provided at the
intersection left turns are not included in the signal
design and only right turning movements and straight
traffic is included.[11]
The Transport Chowk is shown in figure 10 and four
phases taken into design consideration are:[8]
Phase 1: Straight & Right movement for lane 1
Figure 7 Variation of Traffic in Entire Day4 Phase 2: Straight & Right movement for lane 3
Phase 3: Straight & Right movement for lane 4
Phase 4: Straight & Right movement for lane 2

Figure 8 Composition of Traffic in Entire Day

Figure 10 Study Area

Pretimed signals are designed by making use of the

websters method of signal design and IRC method.
Websters method gives the optimum cycle length
whereas the IRC method gives the minimumgreen
time on the basis of time taken by pedestrians to cross
the approach lanes.[13]
1.5L+5
Co = (1)
1y
Figure 9 Traffic Flow Diagram for the Peak Hour Flow Where, Co is optimum cycle time, L is lost time and
y = sum of maximum present flow to saturation flow
Figure 9 shows the turning movements of traffic ratios of all the phases.
during peak hour and all the figures are in PCU i.e.
Passenger Car Unit. Automatic Traffic Signals
The pretimed traffic signals and automatic traffic These are designed by on the basis of their working
signals were designed for this peak hour flow. principle i.e. minimum green time, unit extension or
passage time, maximum green time. The phases are
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same as taken in the pretimed signal design. Operating Where, A is the projected traffic volume, P is the
principle of these traffic signals include firstly volume count of the available year or current year,r is
allotment of green time for a minimum time which is the rate of growth of traffic per year usually taken as
independent of any detections of vehicles and will 0.075 [7] and n is number of years.
occur in each cycle. The minimum green may be taken The peak hour traffic is generally 8- 10% of the
according to the IRC recommendations or on the Average Daily Traffic (ADT), hence from the above
number of vehicles to be passed or can also be fixed table, by assuming 9 % the ADT may be taken as
by fixing the location of detector from stop line [14].The 78300 PCU/Day.
automatic signals designed in this study are based on
point detection. So minimum green time is given by: Capacity of Intersection
Gmin = t L + [h integer (dx)] (2) By making use of the formula given below the
capacity of a lane for the both pretimed and automatic
Where,Gmin = minimum green time in second, tL = traffic signals can be computed as, [3]
assumed start-up lost time = 4 sec, h = assumed g
ci = si Ci (4)
saturation headway = 2 sec, d = distance between
detector & stop line in m and x = assumed distance Where ci is the capacity of lane in vehicle per hour, si
between stored vehicles = 6 m. is the saturation flow rate in vehicle per hour per lane,
Secondly, Unit Extension time is given to the phase if gi is the effective green time alloted to the lane in
any vehicle is detected by the detector.it is also know seconds and C is the cycle time in seconds.
as passage time i.e. time required by the vehicle to By combining the capacity of all the approach lanes
cross the distance between detector and stop line and we get the capacity of intersection.
is given by:
P = (d/S) (3) Level of Service
Where, P = passage time, sec, d = distance from By making use of the capacity of each approach lane
detector to stop line, meter and S = approach speed of intersection level of service for each lane is calculated
vehicles, m/s. (15th Percentile speed) by dividing the present traffic volume by the capacity
Thirdly, the minimum green time is extended to the and LOS can be read from the figure 12. [11]
maximum green time which is found out by increasing
the cycle length obtained in pretimed signal operation
by 150 percent.
Figure 11 shows the opeating principle of an automatic
traffic signal.

Figure 12 Level of Service

Figure 11 Operation of an automatic traffic signal

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The inductive loop detectors culd be used to have the Figure 13 shows the phase diagram for the pretimed
real-time traffic data or to detect the vehicles in case signal operation which gives the designed cycle length
of automatic traffic signals. and allotted green time for different phases and amber
times for the same.
Future Traffic Prediction
Also the peak hour so found is then further used to
predict the growth of traffic in next 10 years.The
formula applied for calculations of the projected traffic
volume for the next ten years is as [7]
= ( + )

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From 2993 B 3129 B

Industrial
Area

From the above table 3 it can be seen that the capacity

is increased in case of automatic traffic signals and
Level of Service is also improved, so as far as capacity
part is concerned Automatic traffic signals are better
than pretimed traffic signals.
As far as waiting time is concerned, as automatic
signals work on real-time detections by making use of
inductive loop detector technology, the waiting time of
Figure 13 Phase diagram for Pretimed traffic signals
the vehicles is lesser than that of in case of pretimed
traffic signals.
Wasted time is almost negligible in case of Automatic
traffic signals as the real-time detection of absent
traffic will give the green time to the next phase. In
case of pretimed traffic signals timings are fixed and
lot of time is wasted when there is no traffic on the lane
to which green time is allotted.
It was seen that automatic traffic signals are expensive
than the pretimed traffic signals by a margin of Rs.
2,10,000 but as these give more performance than the
pretimed traffic signals in terms of capacity and time
saving these can be installed at the Transport Chowk
intersection.[18]

CONCLUSION
Figure 14 Phase diagram for Automatic traffic signals It can be concluded that the by replacing the pretimed
traffic signals with the automatic traffic signals,
Figure 14 shows the phase diagram for automatic capacity is being increased and LOS is also being
traffic signals and gives the designed cycle length, improved.Detector technology to be used for the
minimu green time, maximum green time and amber detection of vehicles is Inductive loop which is
time of all the phases. All the figures are in seconds. commonly used and simple to install, operate and
maintain. When pretimed traffic signals fail to clear
Table 3. Comparison of Pretimed and Automatic off the intersection traffic police have to clear off the
Traffic Signals intersection by turning off the traffic signals and
handling the traffic manually on their own. This
Approach Pretimed Automatic problem can be solved by placing automatic traffic
Lane Signals Signals signals. As automatic signals are saving the wasted
time and increasing the capacity the expensive part can
Capacity LOS Capacity LOS
be tolerated and hence they can be provided at
PCU/hr PCU/hr Intersection. After 3 years Websters method of signal
design fails to design the signal for the traffic as the
From PGI 2516 F 2651 E value of Y comes greater than 1. So at this situation
automatic traffic signals comes into play as they will
From 1116 E 1182 D be detecting real-time traffic and assigning the green
Grain time for the approach lanes to clear off the traffic.
Market
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
From 1755 F 1835 F We are grateful to the project co-ordinator, HOD and
Housing staff of mechanical engineering department, PEC
Board University of Technology, Chandigarh for giving us
the opportunity to work on this project and for guiding

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us throughout our research work. We are also thankful Malaysian Journal of Computer Science,
to SSP Traffic Police Department, Chandiagrh for volume 9, Issue 2, pp. 29-35.
providing the permissions and facilities necessary for [13] N.P.T.E.L. (nptel.ac.in/courses/105101008)
completion of our research work. Special thanks to our
Design principles of traffic Signal Chapter
family and friends for supporting us throughout our
work. 34, Traffic Engg. Management, April 02,
2012.
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AUTHOR BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ishant Sharma
M.Tech Scholar in Tranportation
Engineering
PEC University of Technology,
Chandigarh

Dr. Pardeep K. Gupta

Associate Professor
Civil Engineering Department
PEC University of Technology,
Chandigarh

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