Optimizing traffic signal control for continuous‐flow intersections: Benchmarking against a state‐of‐practice model

Abstract Continuous‐flow intersections (CFI), also known as displaced left‐turn (DLT) intersections, aim to improve the efficiency and safety of traffic junctions. A CFI introduces additional cross‐over intersections upstream of the main intersection to split the left‐turn flow from the through movement before it arrives at the main intersection which decreases the number of conflict points between left‐turn and through movements. This study develops and examine a two‐step optimization model for CFI traffic signal control design and demonstrates its performance across more than 300 different travel demand scenarios. The proposed model is compared against a state‐of‐practice CFI signal control model as a benchmark. Microsimulation results suggest that the proposed model reduces average delay by 17% and average queue length by 32% for a full CFI compared with the benchmark signal control model.