Field Testing the Effectiveness of Adaptive Traffic Control for Arterial Signal Management

The report describes the methodology and findings of the evaluation of adaptive signal control in a real-life corridor. The study section was a five mile section of the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles with nine signalized intersections operating under adaptive control using the Los Angeles DOT ATCS (adaptive traffic control system). Optimal fixed time time-of-day plans were developed and implemented at the test site. The performance of the ATCS system and the fixed-time plans was evaluated using extensive field data on travel times and queue lengths collected through probe vehicles, Bluetooth sensors and video cameras. The findings indicate that ATCS performed better than the fixed-time plans during the time of peak direction in the arterial through traffic. All strategies had similar performance in the midday time period. A number of limitations were identified for ATCS under oversaturated conditions, including under-allocating green time to the critical approach at the bottleneck intersection, allocating more green time than necessary at intersections upstream of the bottleneck, and inappropriate setting offsets at intersections downstream of the bottleneck resulting in additional delays for traffic departing the bottleneck and creating the potential for queue spillbacks to the bottleneck itself. Possible remedial actions for these issues are discussed.

• Record URL:
  https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/final-report-task-2272-a11y.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://merritt.cdlib.org/api/presign-file/ark%253A%252F13030%252Fm56h5xk3/2/producer%252FCA14-2272.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/884574755
• Corporate Authors:

  University of California, Berkeley

  California PATH Program, Institute of Transportation Studies
  Richmond Field Station, 1357 South 46th Street
  Richmond, CA  United States  94804-4648

  University of California, Berkeley

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  McLaughlin Hall
  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720

  California Department of Transportation

  Division of Research and Innovation
  1227 O Street, MS-83
  Sacramento, CA  United States  94273-0001
• Authors:
  • Campbell, Robert
  • Skabardonis, Alexander
• Publication Date: 2014-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 82p
• Serial:
  • PATH Research Report
  • Publisher: University of California, Berkeley
  • ISSN: 1055-1425

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adaptive control; Arterial highways; Bottlenecks; Field tests; Offsets (Traffic signal timing); Periods of the day; Traffic signal control systems; Traffic signal timing; Travel time
• Identifier Terms: Pacific Coast Highway
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01533111
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: UC Berkeley Transportation Library
• Report/Paper Numbers: UCB-ITS-PRR-2014-03, CA14-2272
• Contract Numbers: 65A0430
• Files: CALTRANS, TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 7 2014 10:54AM