Phase 6. Adding traffic light
In this phase we will make a controlled
intersection by adding traffic lights to the
flowchart.
To define the working mode for one or more traffic lights
controlling
traffic flow on an intersection or a pedestrian crossing we must use
the Traffic Light
block from the Road Traffic Library.
Define logic for traffic lights
- Add the Traffic Light
block to the
flowchart from the Blocks section of the Road
Traffic Library.
This block has no ports and you do not have to connect it to any other
flowchart blocks. You can place it in absolutely any area of
the
graphical editor.

- Open the block's properties. Pay attention to the main
block's
parameter: Defines
the mode for. This parameter has three alternative
options.
The Intersection's stop lines
option (selected by default). In our case we should leave this option
selected by default, as the traffic lights created by this block will
control traffic (enabling / disabling traffic flow) on all
lanes of the adjacent to the intersection road at
once.
The Intersection's
lane connectors
option is used when the allowed traffic directions on the
controlled
intersection differ for lanes of one and the same road during the same
traffic light phase.
The Specified stop lines
option is used when simulated by this block traffic
lights control traffic
at one or more pedestrian crossings,
defined by the AnyLogic stop lines.
- In the Intersection
parameter choose the name of the previously created intersection: intersection.

- Once you have specified the intersection in the Traffic
Light properties, all its stop lines will be listed
in the Phases table below. Here you define
red, green (and optionally
yellow) phase durations for
every stop line of the selected intersection.
- Let us define the traffic light phases. We want the 30
second green
phase enabling traffic flow along the Tapiolavagen road
(during
which the traffic flow coming from the Menninkaisentie road
towards the intersection is disabled) to switch to the 20 second red
phase (green phase to turn from Menninkaisentie). These phases
will be endlessly switching from one to another. By default
the
table
contains two
columns, one for each phase. We need to define the green and the red
phase for each stop
line. Start with configuring the first phase. Click in the table header
to edit the phase length. Set it to 30 seconds.

- Since we selected the Phases table cell
that refers to the first traffic light phase, you can see that
all shapes in the
graphical editor are grayed out, while the stop
lines
are marked in red. It means that we entered the
phase editing mode, allowing you to easily change each stop
line's
state for the current phase right in the graphical editor.
- Click on a stop line in the
graphical
editor as shown on the screenshot above. The stop line's color
will switch from
red
to green (the corresponding table cell in the Phases table will
also
change its color).
- In the same way make the first traffic light phase green
for the other stop line located on the same road as well.
- Now we shall configure the second phase. Click on the
second
column's title and set the length of this phase to 20 seconds.
Then click on the stop line located on the Menninkaisentie
road access.
- Finally the Phases
table should look like this:
Run the model. You will see that traffic light phases switch
each
other, enabling traffic flow either on the main road (Tapiolavagen) or
on the Menninkaisentie road access.

To have a better understanding
of the traffic jams currently present in the
simulated road
network due to the traffic lights, you should enable car density map.
To
show car density map
- Add the Road Network Descriptor
element onto
the graphical diagram from
the Blocks
section
of Road Traffic
Library.
There is also no need to connect this element to any other flowchart
blocks.
- Modify the element's properties. Choose the name of the
created road network (roadNetwork)
from the Road
network drop-down list.
- Open the Density
map section of Road
Network Descriptor properties and select
the Enable
density map checkbox.
Run the model and examine the current traffic situation on the
intersection.

Now you can try switching traffic light modes
(e.g. set duration of phases to 30 / 20 or 30 / 30 seconds) and finding
the mode offering the best result for the drivers.
That is one of the numerous examples showing
practical usage of
the Road Traffic Library. Road traffic models are usually created to
analyze and compare different traffic organization
variants (e.g. adding traffic light), model roads and junctions that
are being designed to uncover bottle necks,
check the viability of increasing or decreasing lane's
quantity on
a certain segment of the existing road network. Alongside this,AnyLogic
Road Traffic Library allows to add (3D) animation to the
traffic in your model (airport shuttle buses and taxi cars,
semi-trucks in logistics center etc.), driving your model's animation
in this way to a completely new level.
Phase 5. Adding buses