CIVE461: Transportation

Engineering and Lab

Unit E: Traffic Analysis at

Signalized Intersections

Basic Concepts and Definitions

Required Reading: MWK 7.1-7.2

Supplemental Reading: HCM Ch. 10
 Outline
• Motivation
• Concepts and definitions

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 Motivation
• Intersections are a major source of traffic
conflicts, accidents, and delays
• Interventions
– Geometric
• Channelization
• Rotary
• Grade separation (different types of interchanges)
– Operational
• Signs: stop / yield signs
• Traffic signals
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 Traffic Signals
Advantages
• Reduction in some types of accidents (e.g. right angle)
and improvement in overall safety
• Provision for pedestrians to cross street by interrupting
flow
• Provision for side-street traffic to enter traffic stream
• Provision of progressive flow in signal corridor (signals
are properly coordinated)
• Possible improvement in capacity, and reductions in
delay
• Equalization of the quality of service for all or most
traffic streams

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 Traffic Signals
Disadvantages
• Not for all situations
• Unjustified or poorly timed signal can lead to:
– Increase in vehicle delay
– Significant increase in frequency of collisions (especially
rear-end collisions)
– Disruption of traffic progression
– Encouraging the use of roads not intended for thru traffic
(as drivers attempt to avoid traffic control signals)
– Excessive disobedience of traffic light

• Expensive to install (> $100,000) and operate

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 Signal Installation: “Warrants”

• Manual of Uniform Traffic Control

Devices (MUTCD)
• Guidelines to determine if traffic signal
is needed
• 8 major warrants related to (see
appendix):
– Vehicular volume
– Pedestrian volume
– School crossing
– Coordinated signal system
– Crash experience
http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/
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– Road network
 Signal Installation: “Warrants”
(cont.)
• Apply these rules to determine if a signal
is “warranted” at an intersection
• Note: if warrants are met, doesn’t mean
signals or control is mandatory

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 Outline
• Motivation
• Concepts and definitions

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 Basic Characteristics
• Roadways entering intersection are
segmented into approaches
• Physical unit of analysis: lane group
– Lane group: one or more lanes on an intersection
approach
• Traffic moves based on allowed movements
(L, T, R) and the sequencing of allowed
movements by the signal
LTR L
TR 10
Typical Signalized Intersection Elements

3-letter notation:
WBL, NBT, EBR, etc.

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Typical Signal Head Configurations in the US

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 Definitions
• Indication
– Illumination of one or more signal lenses (green,
yellow, red)
• Interval
– Period of time during which all signal indications
(green, yellow, red) remain the same for all approaches
• Cycle
– Any complete sequence of signal indications (green,
yellow, red, and back to the start of green) for all
approaches
• Cycle Length (C)
– The total time for the signal to complete one cycle (in
seconds) 15
 Definitions (cont.)
• Green Time (G)
– The duration of the green indication for a given movement
• Yellow Time (Y) or Change Interval
– The duration of the yellow indication for a given movement
• Red Time (R)
– The duration of the red indication for a given movement
• All-Red Time (AR) or Clearance Interval
– The time in the signal cycle during which all approaches have a
red indication
Yellow (Y)

Street A

Street B
All-red (AR)
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Intergreen = Y + AR
 Definitions (cont.)
• Traffic movements are grouped and allowed to move in
phases:
– Phase: the right-of-way (i.e. green), yellow change, and red clearance
intervals in a cycle that are assigned to an independent traffic
movement or combination of movements.
– Sum of phase lengths is the cycle length

Two-phase signal

Three-phase signal

Four-phase signal
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 Movement Types
• In addition to directional descriptor (L, T, R),
categorize movements as either:
– Protected movement
• Movement which has right-of-way and does not need
to yield to conflicting movements such as opposing
vehicle traffic or pedestrians (thru is always protected)

– Permitted movement
• Movement which must yield to opposing traffic or
pedestrians, i.e. turn is made during gaps in opposing
traffic
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 Signal Operation
• Display of signal indications (green, yellow,
red) is handled by a signal controller, located
in a cabinet next to the intersection.

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 Signal Operation (cont.)
Types of Signal Controllers
• Controllers combined with vehicle detection
offer great flexibility in controlling phase
duration and sequence.
• 3 modes of operation
– Pretimed
– Semi-actuated
– Fully actuated

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 Signal Operation (cont.)
Types of Signal Controllers
– Pretimed
• Fixed interval lengths in fixed sequence
• Does not change in response to changes in traffic flow
– Semi-actuated (traffic-adjusted)
• Signal timing schemes affected when vehicles detected, on
some, but not all approaches
• Typically installed on minor road when intersecting with
major road
– Fully Actuated
• Signal timing (green time, phasing, etc.) is completely
influenced by detected traffic volumes on all approaches
• Typically when two major streets intersect
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 Popular Traffic Detector Types
• Inductive Loop Detection (ILD) System

• Video Image Processing (VIP) System

• Microwave Radar Based Traffic Detection System

• Wireless Traffic Detection System

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 Inductive Loop Detection System

Source:
http://www.marshproducts.com/pdf/Inductive%20Loop%20Write%20up.pdf

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Inductive Loops

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 Inductive Loops (cont.)

• Most popular

Photos from Never

Fail Loop Systems, Inc.

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Inductive Loops (cont.)

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Video

Video Image Processors (VIPs)

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 Remote Traffic
Microwave Sensor (RTMS)

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Photos and picture from Electronic Integrated Systems, Inc.
 Wireless Vehicle Detection

Magnetic sensors with low power radio technology

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 Wireless Vehicle
Detection (cont.)

Source:
http://www.sensysnetworks.com
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 Actuated Control
Typical Phase Operation
• Initial green
– Practical minimum amount of green time
• Extended green (up to a maximum green time)
– Continuation of green time as long as a vehicle is
detected within a specified amount of time after
the arrival of the previous vehicle
• Yellow
• All-red

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 Signal Controller Operation
• Most signal controllers operate in “dual-ring” configuration
• 4 movements (1-4) ring 1 and (5-8) ring 2
• Any movement in ring 1 can occur simultaneously with any
movement in ring 2 on the same side of the barrier (barrier
separates conflicting movements)

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 First phase: WBL , EBL.
If no EBL detected, skip 5,
and go to phase 1,6
If no 1 or 5, first phase is 2,6

If volume in 5 clears before

time allocated, can terminate
and shift to 6 earlier

Note:
All movements on left side
of barrier must be terminated
before right side of the barrier
can be initiated, and vice versa

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 Appendix 1
Signal Installation: “Warrants”
Engineering study data may include (but is not limited to) the following:
A. The number of vehicles entering the intersection in each hour from each
approach during 12 hours of an average day
B. Vehicular volumes for each traffic movement from each approach,
classified by vehicle type (heavy trucks, passenger cars and light trucks,
public-transit vehicles, and, in some locations, bicycles)
C. Pedestrian volume counts on each crosswalk during the same periods as
the vehicular counts in Item B. Where young, elderly, and/or persons with
physical or visual disabilities need special consideration
D. A diagram showing details of the physical layout, including such features as
intersection geometrics, channelization, grades, sight-distance restrictions,
transit stops and routes, parking conditions, pavement markings, roadway
lighting, driveways, nearby railroad crossings, distance to nearest traffic
control signals, utility poles and fixtures, and adjacent land use.
E. A collision diagram showing crash experience by type, location, direction of
movement, severity, weather, time of day, date, and day of week for at
least 1 year

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 Signal Installation: “Warrants” (cont.)
• Warrant 1, Eight-Hour Vehicular Volume
– Condition A: Minimum Vehicle Volume: e.g. veh/hr on major
street (total both approaches) > 500
– Condition B: Interruptions of Continuous Flow: e.g. veh/hr on
higher volume minor street approach (one direction only) > 150
– Conditions are observed for any 8 hours
• Warrant 2, Four-Hour Vehicular Volume
– Volume of intersecting traffic is the main reason (check v/s
graph 4C-1)
• Warrant 3, Peak Hour
– At location where traffic conditions for a minimum of 1 hour of
an average day, the minor-street traffic suffers undue delay
when entering or crossing the major street

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 Signal Installation: “Warrants” (cont.)
• Warrant 4, Pedestrian Volume
– Traffic volume on a major street is so heavy that pedestrians
experience excessive delay in crossing the major street
• Warrant 5, School Crossing
• Warrant 6, Coordinated Signal System
– Progressive movement in a coordinated signal system
sometimes necessitates installing traffic control signals at
intersections where they would not otherwise be needed in
order to maintain proper platooning of vehicles
• Warrant 7, Crash Experience
• Warrant 8, Roadway Network
– Justified to encourage concentration and organization of traffic
flow on a roadway network

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 Appendix 2
Intersection Control Type

from Highway Capacity Manual 2000

 Appendix 3
Examples of Inductive Loop Types

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