Intelligent transportation systems provide many advantages as part of our daily lives. One of the most common applications of these current and increasingly widespread systems in our cities is intelligent junction control. The scope of the intelligent junction control concept which includes different approaches and algorithms, is quite wide. It is known that it needs realistic and objective technical knowledge to guide decision makers correctly. In this sense, what do you think the definition of intelligent intersection should include? Is a high-cost intersection control system with a lot of equipment always necessary? Or are the lower cost solutions that enable multi-plan control by only increasing the number of control programs? What should be the threshold or the transition point for the preference? Is it sufficient to make only cost-benefit analysis? To what extent should social benefits be taken into account for feasibility analysis? Sharing your views on this issue can be beneficial to many researchers and interested parties and can contribute to the spread of sustainable transportation (traffic management) systems.
Are the intelligent systems really intelligent? I think that most important question is this. Are the benefits obtained from high-cost solutions considerable in every time? Sometimes, low-cost geometrical regulations, basic analytical approaches or the intelligent use of existing resources and systems may be effective for the solution of the problems. I think that traffic flow characteristics and properties at each intersection approaches must be anlayzed in details. It should be noted that this is the first rule for the most properly management of the signalized intersections.
Dear @Ziya Cakici,
Thanks for your valuable comments. You are right, intelligency of the system should be inquired before making a decision. Firstly, a real (and basic) traffic engineering view should be considered. Sometimes, even this alone can offer a remarkable and inexpensive solution.
In this discussion, I wanted to draw attention to the following issue. In many countries and cities, high cost and complex intelligent intersection control systems are used, although it is not really necessary. In my opinion, it is possible to manage intersections and traffic more effectively with basic traffic engineering knowledge and solutions before choosing these systems. What are your thoughts on this subject? Do you agree that a sufficient level of traffic engineering perspective can easily solve this problem? Also, what conditions must be created to use such complex intelligent control systems? I think different opinions from the world can enrich this subject.
I heard recently from an agency that they consider that signals operate effectively if they change light from green to yellow to red, in that consecutive order and without interruption. So, what exactly is a good control is like a "beauty in the eye of the beholder". So, an agency first needs to be comfortable with level of operations quality or misery that non-optimal control generates to participants in traffic stream. Then, an agency needs to define operational measures (or objective functions more formally) that they would like to improve. If there is more than one such measure then they should be able to judge how to weigh each criterion. At this point we probably already lost their interest and attention as this is usually an overwhelming task for them but if anyone survives this point then it makes sense to talk about level of ITS equipment, primarily for sensing purposes and then finally the quality of the control algorithm. So, what we in academia usually put at forefront of our research (control algorithms) folks in practice usually care less.
Dear Aleksandar Stevanovic ,
Thank you very much for your valuable comments including samples from US case. We must strive to increase the practical appeal of our research at the Academy. We must simplify taking into account the practical aspect of researches that are very complex and questionable of applicability. So maybe agencies can pay more attention to the issue.
Dear Yetis Sazi Murat
ITS can be found in several fields of activity: optimizing the use of transport infrastructure, improving safety (including road safety), and developing services. The use of ITS is also part of a context of sustainable development: these new systems contribute to the control of mobility by favoring other modes that are more respectful of the environment.
To know the characteristics of the networks, the characteristics of the demand of traffic and the recurring problems, it is essential to have databases. The new technologies based on the ITS make it possible to store large volumes of information.
In my opinion, to use the intelligent system at intersections depends on its role and depends about needs, otherwise said, the objective should be defined clearly and after that we should define what kind of ITS is needed, this last is defined after we have studied all constraints of the intersection. This permits us to reduce the costs and to apply our solution optimally.
In other hands, before apply the ITS, or thinking about ITS, we should after a deep investigation, decide if the solution is to utilize the ITS! Because sometimes with a basic solution we can solve the problem of congestion at junctions, for example, by modify phases, priority and cycle length.
I note that the ITS aren’t solutions to the traffic jam issue, but are systems that we use to apply our technical solutions. So, it depends on about how we use it!
I hope that the response will be helpful.
Kind regards,
Mouloud
Dear @Mouloud Khelf,
Thank you very much for your detailed discussion. The issues that you underlined are very important for decision makers and designers. Ability and scope of ITS should be clearly understood before decision making. The final decision must be made after the technical information gaps are eliminated.
It should not be forgotten that these systems are not always a magic stick that heals every problem, but it can be beneficial only to use it when and where it is needed.
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