Comparison of Pedestrian Delay Models at Signalized Midblock Crossings Under Mixed Traffic Conditions

Abstract

In the field of transportation engineering, one of the most important factors for the traffic engineers and road users (pedestrian and vehicle) is the delay which governs the LOS of a facility. Past studies shows that various delay models like HCM, Webster, and Austroads work well for the homogeneous traffic conditions. However, Limited studies were done on mixed traffic conditions like in India and in other developing countries. Apart from that, all the models were developed based on the conditions of signalized intersection whereas signalized midblock crosswalks were completely overlooked by the researchers. The present study aims to compare pedestrian field delay at signalized midblock sections with the existing models. Six mid-block crossings have been selected from Hyderabad, India and data was collected using video-graphic technique. Field Pedestrian waiting delays were measured by plotting queue length against cycle time and area under the curve was calculated using Simpson's 1/3rd rule. Field crossing delay was calculated as the difference between actual crossing time and ideal crossing time. The performance of all the models were evaluated using t-test and other performance indices like MAPE, RMSE and R2. It was observed from the statistical tests that there is a significant difference between the means of field delay and delay by existing models. Also all the existing models yielded an error of more than 20% with an R2 value of less than 0.3. Calibrated results can be used in the modelling of new pedestrian delay for signalized midblock crosswalks.