EFFECT OF SIGNAL SPACING ON PLATOON DISPERSION (PHASE ONE)

THE STUDY OBJECTIVE IS TO INVESTIGATE PLATOON MOVEMENTS ON ARTERIALS AND TO RELATE VARIATION IN PLATOON BEHAVIOR TO VARIATION IN SIGNAL CONTROL AND CHANGES IN TRAFFIC VOLUMES. THE STUDY METHOD INVOLVES TAKING PICTURES WITH A TIME-LAPSE CAMERA OF THE PLATTOONS AS THEY PROCEED ALONG THE TEST STREETS. THE CAMERA WAS OPERATED AT TWELVE FRAMES PER SECOND IN THE FIRST PART OF THE STUDY AND AT ONE FRAME PER SECOND IN THE SECOND PART. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE FIRST VEHICLE IN A PLATOON IS NOT AFFECTED BY THE SIZE OF THE PLATOON. OPERATION OF A TRAFFIC SIGNAL AS A FLASHING AMBER WAS FOUND TO CAUSE A REDUCTION IN THE AVERAGE SPEED OF THE PLATOONS. IT WAS ALSO OBSERVED THAT SMALL PLATOONS ARE LESS COMPACT THAN LARGE PLATOONS. A KINEMATIC MODEL OF TRAFFIC FLOW, BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT ALL VEHICLES TRAVEL WITH A CONSTANT SPEED NORMALLY DISTRIBUTED AROUND THE MEAN SPEED, WAS APPLIED AND TESTED FOR GOODNESS OF FIT WITH FLOW OF THE SIGNALIZED ARTERIAL AT A CONFIDENCE LEVEL OF 90 PERCENT. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr, Ees-311, EES-311
• Corporate Authors:

  Ohio State University, Columbus

  190 North Oval Drive
  Columbus, OH  United States  43210

  Ohio Department of Highways

  Columbus, OH  United States  43210

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Publication Date: 1968-12

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Arterial highways; Flashing traffic signals; Kinetics; Mathematical models; Signalization; Streets; Time lapse photography; Traffic flow; Traffic platooning; Traffic signals; Traffic simulation; Traffic volume; Yellow interval (Traffic signal cycle)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Flashing yellow signals; Models
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224907
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 22 1994 12:00AM