A Fuzzy Approach to Reduce Delays at Signalized Road Intersections

In this paper a fuzzy approach is proposed to reduce delay at isolated intersections by using as indicator the saturation degree. The starting point of the proposed approach is the use of measured traffic flows at a prefixed distance from the intersection to modify the phase length so as to reduce delay. Measured traffic flows are considered as fuzzy quantities because of their uncertainty and/or imprecision. As a consequence of the delay reduction, also environmental impacts are reduced, then the system can be identified as an ITS as it employs information and communication technologies and integrate them to obtain a more efficient transport service and reduce transport negative impacts. A test example is analyzed to show the benefits of the fuzzy controlled intersection with respect to a crispy controlled one.