Fuel consumption at the oversaturated signalized intersection considering queue effects: A case study in Harbin, China

Vehicles are always in an alternating state of going and stopping at oversaturated signalized intersections, which not only reduces the operational efficiency of the intersections but also greatly increases the average fuel consumption of vehicles. The purpose of this study is to propose a fuel consumption analysis method that can be adapted to the oversaturated signalized intersections. Considering queue effects, this paper proposed a way to define the judging criteria and the classification for the oversaturated state based on the intersection spacing, traffic demand, and the intersection capacity. The theoretical models were constructed for estimating vehicular fuel consumption towards two different oversaturated states and with/without automatic start and stop systems respectively, which was dependent on two main parameters of the delay and the stop that were confirmed by the definite number theory. The results show that the degree of saturation of the approach and the automatic start and stop systems have a great influence on vehicular fuel consumption at oversaturated signalized intersections, and the shorter spacing is expected for the oversaturated state II because of more deceleration and acceleration maneuvers.