01154387

Component

Pedestrian signals, particularly at signalized, mid-block crossing cause delay to a driver which is termed “excessive delay” in this study. In many cases at a mid-block signal, a pedestrian pushes the button and then quickly crosses the street as soon as the walk signal appears and drivers still face several seconds of solid red ball and by law must remain stopped. On a busy street a queue of vehicles waiting after all pedestrians have crossed can amount to hundreds of hours of excessive delay per year. The High intensity Activated cross WalK (HAWK) beacon signal, which is now proposed to be called a “Pedestrian Hybrid Signal” in the next Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (2009 version), is proven to be effective in decreasing this excessive delay by its different sequence of signal operation. The City of Lawrence was interested in experimenting with a HAWK and they installed one at a mid-block crossing. A study was conducted at this site to find out the effectiveness of the HAWK in decreasing the delay to drivers by comparing it with a signalized mid-block on Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, Kansas. Cameras were used to capture video at these sites and the effectiveness of a HAWK was analyzed from the video. The HAWK proved to be effective in decreasing the excessive delay for the drivers in this study.

01147878

10-2982

English

13p

2010

Transportation Research Board 89th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures; Photos; References (4) ; Tables (2)

Audible pedestrian signals; Highway beacons; Highway operations; Pedestrian actuated controllers; Pedestrian movement; Pedestrian traffic; Signalized intersections; Traffic delays; Warning radio beacons; Warning systems

Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; I73: Traffic Control

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2010 Paper #10-2982

TRIS, TRB

Jan 25 2010 11:27AM