A model for the mesoscopic feature of vehicles movement at signalized intersections

This paper develops a mathematic model to describe vehicles movement at signalized intersections. The model highlights the mesoscopic feature of vehicles movement during the start part of green time, which is observed as that a closely-spaced platoon of moving vehicles forms and disperses. A so-called four-stage movement is developed to detail the mesoscopic feature and build the infrastructure of the model. A performance measure named intersection passing time is also developed and then estimated in case studies to validate the model. It reveals that intersection passing time estimated by the proposed model is close to the empirical data. And it is found by the proposed model that, for the vehicle in the middle or rear part of a queue, its driver's decision at the second stage has much effect on its total delay at the intersection.