A Multiobjective Bilevel Programming Model for Environmentally Friendly Traffic Signal Timings

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and mobility needs of road users increase traffic congestion and delay on urban road networks. Thus, local authorities aim to reduce users’ total travel time through providing a balance between traffic volume and capacity. To do this, they optimize traffic signal timings, which is one of the most preferred methods, and thus they can increase the reserve capacity of a road network. However, more travel demand along with more reserve capacity leads to vehicle emissions problem which has become quite dangerous for road users, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this study presents a multiobjective bilevel programming model which considers both the maximization of reserve capacity of a road network and the minimization of vehicle emissions by aiming to achieve environmentally friendly signal timings. At the upper level, Pareto-optimal solutions of the proposed multiobjective model are found based on differential evolution algorithm framework by using the weighted sum method. Stochastic traffic assignment problem is presented at the lower level to evaluate the users’ reactions. Two signalized road networks are chosen to show the effectiveness of the proposed model. The first one is a small network consisting two signalized intersections that are used to show the effect of the weighting factor on the proposed multiobjective model. The other road network with 96 O-D pairs and 9 signalized intersections is chosen as the second numerical application to investigate the performance of the proposed model on relatively large road networks. It is believed that results of this study may provide useful insights to local authorities who are responsible for regulating traffic operations with environmental awareness at the same time.