01590108

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2558-07

Agencies often find it difficult to justify investments in active traffic management. Historically, it has been a challenge to obtain data that would help make the case for those investments. Although new data sources have emerged recently, there remains very little documentation of the potential long-term benefits from signal retiming using associated performance measures. This paper presents a use case for an active traffic management strategy on a signalized corridor over a 5-year period, during which traffic volumes increased by approximately 36% and offset optimization was performed every 2 to 3 years. Despite the considerable volume growth, the number of vehicles arriving on green increased by more than 41%, and the percentage of vehicles arriving on green increased by 10%, a gain of 6 percentage points. Furthermore, drivers experienced an average of 5% reduction in travel time and travel time reliability costs after each optimization. The retiming resulted in a 5-year net present value of approximately $3.7 million and a benefit–cost ratio of 52. Agencies can use these strategies to quantitatively assess how traffic performance and signal timing degrade over time, in a manner similar to physical infrastructure assets. The results highlight the benefits and associated business case of adopting a long-term active traffic management strategy that is based on data-driven performance monitoring and decision making.

01618024

16-0113

English

pp 66–77

2016

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309441315

Print

Figures (6) ; References (30) ; Tables (3)

Arterial highways; Highway traffic control; Longitudinal studies; Optimization; Performance measurement; Traffic signal timing

Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 12 2016 4:18PM

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