Application of Pedestrian Upstream Detection Strategy in a Mixed Flow Traffic Circumstance

Abstract

Walking is an environment-friendly trip mode and can help ease the congestion caused by automobiles. Proper design of pedestrian facilities that promotes effi-ciency and safety can encourage more people to choose walking. Upstream detection (UD) strategy is proposed by previous studies to reduce pedestrian waiting time at mid-block crosswalk (MBC). This paper applied UD strategy to MBC under mixed traffic circumstance where the crosswalk serves both pedestrians and non-motor us-ers. Traffic data was collected from an MBC in the city of Nanjing, China. Simulation models were developed by using the VISSIM software and its add-on module Vehicle Actuated Programming (VAP). The models were catego-rised by the volume and composition of pedestrians and non-motor users. Models were simulated according to different experimental schemes to explore the effective-ness of the UD strategy under mixed traffic circumstance. T-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to interpret the simulation results. The main conclusions of this paper are that the UD strategy is still effective at the MBC with a mixed traffic circumstance despite the pro-portion of non-motor users. However, as the proportion of non-motor users becomes higher, the average delay of pedestrians and non-motor users will increase compared to pure pedestrian flow.