Economic evaluation of grade separation schemes to replace signalized intersections

Due to increasing delay and congestion at most of the signalized intersections, particularly in cities of developing countries like India, there has been a great loss to the society in terms of time loss in waiting at the intersections, and the excess fuel consumed by the motorized vehicles when the engines are running idle, while waiting at the intersection for the green signal. A possible remedy is to provide a cloverleaf type of grade separation, especially when the two intersecting roads are major roads, and there is high percentage of right turning traffic on all the approaching roads. At the same time, it is essential to calculate the major benefits as accurately as possible to justify the provision of such facilities on economic ground. The purpose of the present study is to estimate the monetary benefits of savings in travel time and fuel consumption due to idle running of the engine at the signals, from a reliable database created for this purpose, and then carry out the economic analysis by comparing the net benefits due to the provision of grade separation and the cost of providing the facility.