Citation

Buckholz J. ITE J. 1993; 63(8): 26-29.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Institute of Transportation Engineers)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Signal retiming work is desribed that was performed in Northeast Florida covering separate arterial corridors and involving 150 traffic signals. The basic steps used in the timing analysis are listed. The results were positive, and were most associated with improvements in corridor travel times, reductions in the amount of 'stop and go' operation, and an overall decrease in the number of cycle failures for both main street and side-street traffic. A benefit-to-cost ratio of about 15 to 1 was estimated. To achieve this success, 10 pitfalls need to recognized and resolved: failure to consider 'anchor points' early on in the analysis process; failure to watch the corridor prior to the analysis; selection of the wrong cycle length; ignoring the effects of pedestrian timings; unreasonable fear of lead/lag operation; ignorance of controller restrictions and capabilitites; incomplete time-of-day and day-of-week plans; not recognizing the need for special split plans; lack of in-the-field timing adjustments; and ignoring the need for timing maintenance.