Real-time Arterial Performance Measurement Using BRT Probe Data and Signal Timing Data

Abstract

AbstractReal-time arterial travel time estimation has been a very challengeable task due to the complexity of urban street traffic behaviors and lack of high resolution and high quality data. However, travel time information is considered as one of the most important tools to manage arterial flow. This study developed a series of data processing methods to estimate arterial travel time and LOS based on real-time BRT bus data and signal timing data. BRT buses have a few advantages over local buses to serve as probe vehicles to measure arterial performance. A few data processing procedures were introduced in this paper to estimate the arterial travel time by converting bus trajectory to general traffic travel time. The arterial travel time is estimated by adding the bus queuing delay, average traffic signal waiting time, and free-flow travel time. To verify the effectiveness of the developed method, a field test was conducted. The Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) BRT buses together with Intelli Drive corridor were selected as the data sources. The testing results demonstrate that the proposed method estimated arterial travel time and level of service well based on BRT probe data and traffic signal data. The root mean square error (RMSE) and root mean square percentage error (RMSPE) for the estimation of travel time are 49 seconds and 9%, respectively. The accuracy for the estimation of LOS is 73%.