In-service Evaluation of a Detection-control System for High-speed Signalized Intersections

Download or read book In-service Evaluation of a Detection-control System for High-speed Signalized Intersections written by Karl Zimmerman and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traffic engineers are often faced with operational and safety challenges at rural, high-speed signalized intersections. Vehicle-actuated control, combined with multiple advance detectors, is often used to improve operations and safety. However, this type of detection and control has not always resulted in a significant number of crashes. Crashes sometimes continue to occur at high-speed intersections, and delays to traffic movements can be unnecessarily long. An innovative detection-control system was developed for the Texas Department of Transportation to minimize both delay and crash frequency at rural intersections. This system was subsequently implemented at several intersections in Texas and its safety and operational benefits were evaluated. This report documents the findings and conclusions reached as a result of a three-year implementation project. The Detection-Control System was installed at each of eight intersections in Texas during the three-year period. Five of the intersections were suitable for a before-after study of safety and operational data. An evaluation of the before-after data indicated that the Detection-Control System was able to reduce delay by 14 percent, stop frequency by 9 percent, red-light violations by 58 percent, heavy-vehicle red-light violations by 80 percent, and severe crash frequency by 39 percent.