Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Science

Department of Civil Engineering

CVL 316
Transportation Engineering
Winter 2016
Yoassry Elzohairy, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Signals Coordination

Traffic signals within 800 m (0.5 mi) of one

another along a major route should be
coordinated, preferably with interconnected
controller units.
Signal coordination need not be maintained
across boundaries between signal systems that
operate on different cycle lengths.

Textbook pp 176-179

Benefits
o
o
o
o
o

Improvement of service (higher and smoother flow)

Reduction in user costs (reduced delay)
Conservation of energy (Less fuel)
Preservation of the environment (Less pollutants)
Maintenance of preferred speed (Discouraging
speeding)
Maintenance of well-formed platoons (Providing
gaps to side streets)
Stop fewer vehicles (Less queued vehicles within
the available storage)

Coordinated or Isolated?
Actuated or PrePre-timed?


Coordination when 0.5 mile or less between

signals

Isolated signals when 1 mile or more to the closest

signals

When distance > 0.5 mi & < 1 mi, costeffectiveness of coordination should be studied

Pre-timed and semi-actuated signals in

coordination

Full-actuated at isolated intersections

4

Traffic Signal Coordination

TimeTime-Space Diagram

Offset Effect
10 sec offset

50 sec offset

Time, s

Perfect offset
If speed = 65km/h
Distance = 180 m
Offset =180/(65/3.6)=10 sec

Poor offset
(sometimes inevitable)
7

Favoring one direction

North Bound is Favored

Bandwidth

Our goal: Maximize the bandwidth in both directions

How to maximize bandwidth?

Change
cycle length, green times, and offsets
to minimize stopped traffic.
Typically accomplished using software

11

Example

North
1320 ft

1320 ft

1320 ft

unsignalized

master
signal

2nd signal

final signal

Given:
C = 60 seconds
G = 28 seconds
Y = 2 seconds
the final signal offset from master is 24 seconds
average progression speed = 32 mph
12

Step 1: Determine g and r

The actual signal goes through a sequence of intervals
for each signal phase
 Green
 Yellow
 All-red
 Red

g = G + Y tl
g = effective green time
G = actual green time
Y = sum of yellow and all red
tl = total lost time = start-up lost time + Clearance lost time
Assumed

g = G + Y tl = 28 + 2 + 0 = 30 seconds
r = C g = 60 30 = 30 seconds

Step 2: Draw master and final signals

g

Step 3: Convert speed to ft/s

32 mph x 5280/3600 = 46.9 ft/s

Step 4: Calculate travel time from

master to final signal
Travel time between the master signal
and the final signal = (3 * 1320 ft)/46.9
ft/s
= 84.43 sec
= 84 seconds

Step 5: Draw NB and SB traffic streams

Step 6: Determine NB & SB

bandwidths
NB bandwidth = 114 sec 84 sec
= 30 sec Note that this bandwidth = g
SB bandwidth = (54 sec + 84 sec) 120 sec
= 18 sec

Note that this bandwidth < g

18

Step 7: Determine midstream

signal offsets and g
offset = 1320 ft / 46.93 ft/s = 28.12 sec
= 28 sec
60 + 28 = 88 sec (start)
54 + (1320 + 1320)/46.93 = 110.25 sec
= 110 sec (end)
g = 110 88 = 22 sec
G = g Y = 22 - 2 = 20 seconds
19

88
110

Step 8: Determine cross street gap

times
30 + (1320 + 1320)/46.93 = 86.25 sec
= 86 sec (start)
84 + (1320)/46.93 = 112.13 sec
= 112 sec (end)
gap = 112 86 = 26 seconds

21

Homework

23

 Warrant 9: Intersection Near a Grade Crossing (new, added in 2009)

Approach
A set of lanes at an
intersection that
accommodates all left-turn,
through, and right-turn
movements from a given
direction.

Example of Volume Analysis for Warrant 1

750

75

the
major
road has
one
through
lane on
each
approach
and the
minor
road has
one
through
lane on
each
approach.

Warrant 1A is met, but Warrant 1B is not. Note that Warrant 1B is not met, even though there are 8 hours where the
major road meets the criteria (column K) and 11 hours where the minor road meets the criteria (column L). The 8
hours must be the same hours and there are only 6 hours where both the major and minor road meets the criteria
for Warrant 1B.

30

Examples of Warrant Analysis

Please see Appendix C and Appendix D
(pp 53-58)
http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-4701P2.pdf

33

Homework

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