Analysis of Peer Data on Intersections for Decisions about Coordination of Arterial Traffic Signal

Abstract

Decisions on whether to coordinate adjacent intersections are currently made by rules of thumb and couple indices that are based on ratios of volume to distance with modeled traffic flows. As high-resolution event data from signalized intersections become more readily available, it becomes possible to analyze actual link vehicle flows to better characterize whether (and when) signal coordination is desirable. This paper proposes and demonstrates a methodology that uses peer data obtained from adjacent intersections to assess opportunities to improve arterial progression if a noncoordinated system is coordinated. The beginning of green from the upstream intersection was combined with vehicle arrival times from a downstream intersection to characterize whether vehicles were likely to arrive in consistent platoons at the downstream signal. The peer data–based methodology was used to investigate the benefits of extending a coordination plan to a system running without coordination during a late-night period. A case study of a fully actuated late-evening timing plan on an arterial identified opportunities for potential benefits from coordination; the implementation of a timing plan for an adjacent time period reduced travel times by approximately 1 min in both directions on the arterial.