Optimización de la regulación semafórica en la zona del 22@ de Barcelona

Abstract

Barcelona SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan) for the 2013-2018 period included a set of measures to stimulate the change to more sustainable transportation modes, among which traffic signal configuration based on bus frequencies can be found. This document describes the pilot case implemented in the 22@ area of the city. The approach consists of the development of a mobility simulation model including different transportation modes, relying on the commercial software Aimsun and integrating ad-hoc components, having a tool supporting decision-making as a result. During the first stage of the project, a microscopic simulation model was built, including all details of the infrastructure concerning the road network (lane configuration, traffic signaling, driving constraints…), traffic light configuration and interface with input data from the City Council, public transport surface network and private vehicle demand. Together with the model, an optimizer component implementing specific constraints to ensure a safety, efficient, sustainable mobility was developed. In this way, the resulting tool generates an optimal configuration for traffic lights that can be used for traffic management purposes, giving priority to the bus network with no relevant penalties for the private vehicle and, of course, guaranteeing safety for pedestrians. A relevant improvement of the bus service has been obtained for the three considered scenarios, achieving an increase of the speed between 13% and 25% (average for all lines). As expected, both travel time and the number of stops have been reduced, which results on a better level of service as the users directly perceive these two factors.