Timing of traffic lights and phase separation in two-dimensional traffic flow

In this paper, we study the effects of traffic light period in two-dimensional Biham–Middleton–Levine (BML) traffic flow model. It is found that a phase separation phenomenon, in which the system separates into coexistence of free flow and jam, could be observed in intermediate vehicle density range when traffic light period T⩾4T⩾4. We have explained the reason of occurrence of phase separation and investigated its behavior in different traffic light period.