Dynamic Sorting Method for Road Network Primary Intersections Based on PageRank Algorithm

In order to classify intersections of a city under saturated traffic operating conditions, sort-by-importance measures for intersections should be provided. Considering the static connections and dynamic influences of traffic volume between intersections, a key busyness index that can reflect the busy degree of each intersection in the road network is proposed on the basis of a modified PageRank algorithm. This busyness index is then used for sorting important intersections in the road network and analyzing their situations. Results show that the intersections that are sorted in the front are very busy and important. By taking into consideration of the whole intersections in a road network, the busyness index can make up the disadvantage of the saturation index that can only evaluate the situation of single intersections, and therefore is capable of reflecting accurately the mutual influences of the connection relations among intersections under saturated conditions. Compared with the sorted results by saturation index, the ranking orders by business index of 40% intersections change within 3 positions, 30% drop by 7 positions, and 30% rise by 8 positions. The obtained findings can be used to classify intersections of a city under saturated traffic conditions to timely find the key intersections.