Seattle Central Link Light Rail: What the City has Learned Since it Began Operations in 2009

In 2009 the Seattle Central light rail opened. The system consists of 15.6 miles, three gated crossings and 28 signalized crossing within a 4.5 mile segment in Rainier Valley. When the system first opened to the general public, the strategy was to have the minimum amount of impact on general public traffic and pedestrians while maintaining progression of the light rail trains. The City of Seattle has experienced some of the major obstacles since opening that included: excessive vehicular and pedestrian delays for the cross streets, inability to maintain coordination along Martin Luther King Jr. Way South, and light rail train recovery strategies. This paper will present the priority strategies learned by the City of Seattle based on the traffic signal controller software, field observations, coordination with Sound Transit, and general public perception. The paper will give extensive details about the type of detections along the corridor, signal recovery methods, and queue and pedestrian detection.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.ite.org/Membersonly/techconference/2012/CB12C0303.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The link to the compendium of papers lists the title of this paper as Seattle Central Link Light Rail: What the Seattle City DOT has Learned Since it Began Operations in 2009.
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Pen, Norene
  • Buchanan, Kenneth
• Conference:
  • Managing Operational Performance...Exceeding Expectations. 2012 ITE Technical Conference and Exhibit
  • Location: Pasadena CA, United States
  • Date: 2012-3-4 to 2012-3-7
• Publication Date: 2012

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Maps; Photos;
• Pagination: 16p
• Monograph Title: Managing Operational Performance...Exceeding Expectations. 2012 ITE Technical Conference and Exhibit

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Detection and identification technologies; Pedestrians; Queuing; Traffic delays; Traffic signal controllers
• Geographic Terms: Seattle (Washington)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Railroads; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01380482
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 21 2012 5:09PM