3D Digital Twin Analysis of Vehicle - Pedestrian Conflicts at Urban Intersections

Urban intersections play a key role in transportation systems that are conflict points for different vehicles and pedestrians that can lead to accidents and inefficiency. Increasing heterogeneous traffic volume and inadequate facilities for pedestrian movement results in increasing conflicts and inefficiencies between vehicles and pedestrian. Traditional traffic modeling solely relies on two-dimensional models that are incapable of identifying underlying issues. This research is based on new three-dimensional digital twin-based system what will evaluate pedestrian safety and conflict scenarios between vehicles and pedestrian at an urban intersection.

The data about traffic flow, pedestrian movement pattern and geometry of the intersection, such as distribution of vehicles and its volume, turning movement, pedestrian crossing behavior and number of lanes was acquired during field survey. The information obtained will be used to create a 3D digital twin model of an urban intersection. In order to analyze the key performance indicators, such as pedestrian delay, vehicle delay, queue length, and conflicts, the proposed model was used. Conflict areas were identified, and ways to reduce conflicts and improve pedestrian safety included changes in traffic light timing, crosswalk improvements, and geometrical changes. As a result, there was a substantial reduction of vehicle-pedestrian conflicts and delays. Overall, the results demonstrate the efficiency of the 3D digital twin modeling technique in solving urban traffic problems.