Web Application for Measuring Travel-Based Time Signal Performance

Abstract

With increasing traffic on arterials and intersections controlled by traffic signals, the problem with delays for road users, specifically during periods of peak hours, escalates. The delays are often a consequence of not efficient operation of the traffic signals on that arterials. Many researchers proposed different analytical and heuristic methods for estimating arterial performance measures. The purpose of the Travel Time Based Signal Performance Measures application is to enable traffic operators to evaluate performance of signalized corridors by exploiting the archived upstream-link measured travel times. The web application applies the concept of Volume-Delay Functions to establish the relationship between traffic demand and measured travel times and signal control performance measures. The available signal performance measures for major through movements include: volume-to-capacity ratio, Level of Service (LOS), and number of cycles waiting. Derived measures can be graphically visualized on Google Maps™ as well as in a table on the user interface. Travel time data acquisition is performed using BlueTOAD devices or Acyclica. In order to calculate the requested performance measures, the web application exploits text files containing free flow travel times and actual travel times. Measures can be calculated on two ways, depending on which of the offered two formulas the user has chosen.