Assessing the Effect of Hypothetical Urban Air Mobility Demand Redistribution on Signalized Intersection Performance: A Microsimulation Study of Threshold Effects

This study examines the potential effect of hypothetical Urban Air Mobility (UAM) demand redistribution on congestion and signalized intersection performance in the urban environment of Topoľčany, Slovakia. Based on a calibrated microsimulation model, scenarios involving the redistribution of a portion of ground traffic demand away from the road network were analyzed at 30% and 50% during the morning peak period. The evaluation focused primarily on travel times and intersection load. The results indicate that a moderate reduction in ground traffic demand leads to a significant reduction in travel times and traffic intensity. The most substantial improvement was observed in the 30% redistribution scenario. In comparison, a further increase to 50% did not yield proportional benefits, suggesting a nonlinear threshold effect in the transport system’s performance. It should be emphasized that the UAM scenarios in this study do not represent a full operational simulation of Urban Air Mobility, including aerial corridors, vertiports, waiting times, intermodal transfers, or airspace capacity. Instead, they represent demand redistribution scenarios used to evaluate the response of the existing signalized road network to reduced ground traffic demand. The study identifies limitations arising from simplified model assumptions and the absence of broader environmental, operational, and social considerations. Nevertheless, the findings show that even a moderate reduction in road traffic demand, potentially associated with future multimodal mobility concepts, can contribute to improved traffic efficiency in congested urban networks.