A Planning‐Stage Digital‐Twin‐Oriented Virtual‐City Microsimulation Framework for Evaluating Street Network Typology and Signal Control Performance

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Abstract
Street network typology defines the structural envelope within which traffic signal control can operate. Planning‐stage assessments often treat urban form, demand allocation, signal timing, and microsimulation as separate tasks, leaving an unresolved question: whether coordinated signal timing can offset, or only mitigate, the operational disadvantage associated with an unfavorable street layout. This study develops a planning‐stage digital‐twin‐oriented virtual‐city microsimulation framework for evaluating street network typology and coordinated signal control as a coupled infrastructure‐control system. Here, digital‐twin‐oriented virtual‐city microsimulation framework denotes an auditable what‐if workflow based on a controlled virtual representation, not real‐time synchronization, physical‐system mirroring, or closed‐loop operational control. Four typologies, namely, Traditional Grid, Traditional Superblock, Neo‐Traditional Grid, and Neo‐Traditional Superblock, are constructed in a common 240‐ha virtual city under common land use, population, roadway hierarchy, zoning, demand logic, route‐choice treatment, and timing‐generation protocol. Signalized intersections are selected using warrant‐based criteria, coordinated timings are generated with TRANSYT 7F, and the final performance is evaluated in PARAMICS. The results provide deterministic descriptive evidence that structural‐package differences remain after a common timing‐generation protocol. Under both center‐attraction settings, the superblock package produces a 22‐s higher mean stop delay than the corresponding grid package, while reducing the center‐attraction share from 46% to 32% lowers the mean stop delay by 6 s within both structural families. Relative to the Traditional Superblock Network, the Neo‐Traditional Grid Network reduces mean stop delay from 52 to 24 s and total stop delay from 301,184 to 123,552 s, whereas mean travel distance decreases by only 2.8%. The dominant residual penalty of coarse block structure is therefore interruption accumulation rather than geometric route extension. The contribution is a reproducible planning‐stage protocol that converts microsimulation outputs into auditable evidence for topology‐sensitive signal coordination and street‐network design. The findings should be interpreted as deterministic structural‐package contrasts rather than stochastic significance tests, single‐factor causal estimates, or real‐time operational digital‐twin results.
Funding Information
  • National Science and Technology Council (NSTC 113-2221-E-992-048)

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