Abstract:
Traffic engineering covers a broad range of engineering applications with a common
focus: the nation’s system of highways and streets. Often defined as nation’s “life blood
circulation system”, this important part of national infrastructure supports the vast
majority of inter- and intra-city movement of both people and goods. Thus traffic system
plays a very important role in every aspect of society. Traffic engineering involves a
variety of engineering and management skills, including planning, management, design
construction, operational control, maintenance, and system optimization. Congestion is
one of the major problems encountered by the traffic engineers of our times, while the
principal goal of traffic engineer remains the provision of a safe system for road and
highway traffic. Design construction, operational control, or system optimization may be
employed to relieve congestion. This would increase safety and cause reduction in the
wastage of fuel and time. System optimization provides with a number of cost effective
solutions. These alternatives may be employed to relieve congestion; this in turn would
improve safety and level of service. Optimization is considered to be an extremely
feasible technique particularly for third world countries, which may not allocate funds for
improvement of safety. Signal optimization is achieved by altering the cycle lengths of
different approaches of intersections which lie within a network considered for reduction
in congestion and safety. It participates in growth of economy without becoming a burden
on it. System optimization is being widely used throughout the world to attain the above
mentioned objectives. The results of this project shows by using optimization techniques;
we can reduce delay and improve level of service at signalized intersections.
