Traffic Engineering & Control

Types of Intersection
1. Intersection at grade
2. Grade separation without ramps
3. Interchange (grade separation with ramps)

Design considerations & Objectives

1. Human factors (driving habits, perception & reaction times)
2. Traffic considerations (capacity, turning movement, vehicle speed, size & distribution
of vehicles)
3. Physical elements (characteristics & use of abutting property, sight distance,
geometric features)
4. Economic factors (costs & benefits, energy consumption)

Types of Traffic Control Device

1. Signs (traffic signs)
2. Barriers (including movable barriers, channelization)
3. Signals (traffic lights)

Purpose of Traffic Control

1. Regulating (e.g. speed limit, turn prohibition)
2. Warning (alerting & warning drivers & pedestrians regarding roadway conditions)
3. Guiding (show appropriate routes to reach trip destination through signs & marking)

Effective Traffic Control Device

1. Fulfil a need
2. Command attention
3. Convey a clear, simple meaning
4. Command respect of road users
5. Give adequate time for proper response

To be Effective
1. Properly designed and placed
2. Operated consistently
3. Maintained routinely
4. Uniformity in application

Functional Classifications of Traffic Signs

1. Regulatory signs, used to imposed legal restrictions applicable to particular locations
Example: right of way signs (stop & yield signs); speed signs (max or min speed);
movement signs (no left turn, no overtaking); parking signs.
2. Warning signs, used to call attention to hazardous locations.
Example: highway construction zones, approaches to intersections, merging areas,
pedestrian crossings, school zones
3. Guide or informational signs, provide directions for drivers to various destinations.
Should be placed far enough ahead of the intersection or interchange to allow adequate
time for drivers to make their routing decisions.
4. Directional signs, usually on high-speed highway to guide vehicles to the correct lanes.

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Conflict Areas at Intersection
Types of Vehicle Maneuvers
1. Merging (two directions to one direction)
2. Diverging (one direction to two directions)
3. Crossing (two directions meet in angle)

Types of Conflicts
1. Merging conflicts
2. Diverging conflicts
3. Crossing conflicts

Types of Intersection Controls

1. Stop signs (must stop)
2. Yield signs (may proceed if no vehicle in the other direction)
3. Intersection channelization
4. Rotaries (signalized) and roundabouts (unsignalized)
5. Uncontrolled intersections
6. Traffic signal devices

Stop signs, when to apply?

1. Intersection of a less important road with a main road
2. Intersection of a county road or city street with a state highway
3. Street entering a through highway
4. Unsignalized intersection in a signalized area
5. Unsignalized intersection where a combination of high speed, restricted view, serious
accident record indicates the need for control by stop sign.

Yield signs, when to apply?

1. On the minor road at the entrance to an intersection when it is necessary to assign the
right of way to the major road, but where a stop is not necessary at all times
2. On the entrance ramp to an expressway, where an adequate acceleration lane is not
provided
3. Where there is a separate or channelized turn lane without adequate acceleration lane
4. At any intersection where a problem can be possibly corrected by a yield sign
installation
5. Within an intersection with a divided highway, where a stop sign is present at the
entrance to the first roadway, and further control is necessary at the entrance to the
second roadway. Median width between roadways must exceed 30 ft.

Channelization
Separation or regulation of conflicting traffic movements into definitive paths of travel by
traffic island or pavement markings to facilitate safe & orderly movements of vehicles and
pedestrians.

Proper channelization:
1. Increases capacity
2. Improves safety
3. Provides maximum convenience
4. Built driver’s confidence

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Basic principles in design of channelized intersection
1. Motorists should be provided with channel lines that are easy to follow
2. Sudden & sharp reverse curves should be avoided
3. Areas of vehicle conflicts should be reduced as much as possible
4. Traffic streams that cross without merging and weaving should intersect at or near
right angles
5. Islands should be carefully selected and be as few as possible
6. Overchannelization should be avoided as it is counterproductive and confuse drivers

Rotaries & Roundabouts

Channelized intersections comprising of a central circle surrounded by a one-way roadway.
Basic difference:
Rotaries: signalized (high volume)
Roundabouts: unsignalized (low volume)

Uncontrolled Intersections
Safe design for such intersection should allow drivers on both highways to see the
intersection and traffic in sufficient time to stop before reaching the destination. The standard
practice is to provide a minimum of 3 seconds for perception & reaction time including
braking time. The ‘sight triangle’ should be free from obstruction.

Traffic Signal Devices

Appropriate to minimize
1. Excessive delays at stop signs and yield signs
2. Problems caused by turning movements
3. Angle & side collision
4. Pedestrian accidents

Traffic Signals

Definition
All power operated devices for regulating, directing or warning motorists or pedestrians are
classified as traffic signals

Purpose
1. To improve overall safety
2. To reduce travel time through intersection, therefore increase capacity
3. To equalize the quality of service for all or most traffic streams

Advantage
1. Positive guidance to vehicle operators & pedestrians, less room for erroneous
judgment by drivers
2. Flexibility (allocation of right of way can be responsive to change in traffic flow)
3. Ability to assign priority treatment to some movements or vehicles
4. Feasibility of coordinated control along streets or in area network
5. Provision for continuous flow of a platoon of traffic through proper coordination at a
specified speed along a given route.

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Disadvantage
Poorly designed traffic signals
1. Increase frequency of accidents
2. Excessive delay for vehicles on certain approaches
3. Forcing drivers to adopt circuitous route and driver irritation

Terminologies Related to Intersections and Traffic Signals

1. Cycle (cycle length or cycle time): any complete sequence of signal indications
2. Phase (signal phase): the part of a cycle allocated to any combination of traffic
movements receiving right of way simultaneously during one or more intervals
3. Interval: the part or parts of signal cycle during which signal indication do not change
4. Offset: the time lapse, in seconds, between the beginning of a green phase at the
intersection and the beginning of a green phase at the next intersection
5. Intergreen (clearance interval): the time between the end of a green indication for one
phase and the beginning of a green indication for another
6. All-red interval: the display time of a red indication for all approaches. In some cases,
an all-red interval is used exclusively for pedestrian crossing very wide intersections
7. Peak-hour factor (PHF): the ratio of the number of vehicles entering the intersection
during the peak hour to four times the number of vehicles entering during the peak
15-minute period
8. Average departure headway: observations by Greenshields et. Al (1947) show that for
green intervals of 20 to 30 seconds, the average headway per vehicle is 2.5 seconds
9. Passenger car equivalent: to account for the adverse effect of commercial vehicles
and turning movements on start up time (or average headway). Buses & trucks are
assumed to be 1.5 PCE or 1.6 PCE for left turning vehicles (drive on the right side)
10. Approach: the portion of an intersection leg that is used by traffic approaching an
intersection
11. Capacity: the maximum number of vehicles that has a reasonable expectation of
passing over a given roadway or section of roadway in one direction during a given
time period under prevailing roadway and traffic conditions
12. Critical volume: volume (or combination of volumes) for a given street that produces
the greatest utilization of capacity (e.g. needs the greatest green time) for that street,
given in terms of passenger cars or mixed vehicles per hour per lane
13. Delay: the stopped time delay per approach vehicle (in seconds per vehicle)
14. Green time: the length of green phase plus its change intervals
15. Green ratio: the ratio of effective green time to the cycle length
16. Hourly volume: the number of mixed vehicles that pass a given section of a lane or
roadway during a time period of an hour
17. Level of service: a measure of the mobility characteristics of an intersection as
determined by vehicle delay, and a secondary factor, volume/capacity ratio
18. Local bus: a bus having a scheduled stop at an intersection
19. Passenger car volume: volume expressed in terms of passenger cars, following the
application of passenger car equivalency factor to vehicular volumes
20. Period volume: a design volume, based on the flow rate within the peak 15 minutes of
the hour, converted to an equivalent hourly volume
21. Through bus: a bus not having a designated stop at the intersection under analysis
22. Trucks: a vehicle having six or more wheels on the pavement

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Components of Signal System
1. Illuminated display
2. Controlling mechanism
3. Vehicle detecting devices
4. Means of activation by demand (push button for pedestrian desiring to cross a street)

Signal indications differ by colour, shape & continuity

Colours
Green: to give right of way to one or more combination of traffic streams
Red: to prohibit movement or to require a stop
Amber: to regulate the switching of the right of way from one set of traffic stream to another
or to advise caution

Special signals for pedestrians: illuminated letter messages or logos.

Signal indication can be steady or flashing

Flashing red indication has the same meaning as a stop sign
Flashing amber allows one to proceed with caution
Flashing ‘walk’ cautions pedestrians that a vehicular stream is concurrently permitted to cross
his/her line of movement
Flashing ‘don’t walk’ is equivalent to amber indication

Signal controller: electromechanical or electronic device that regulate the length and
sequence of signal indication at an intersection.

Types of controller:
1. Pretimed: operate with a fixed amount of time allocated to specific traffic movements
in a fixed sequence (timing is based on historical flow pattern at the intersection)
2. Traffic adjusted: equipped with instrument to receive information on traffic flow
patters form various measuring devices at preset time intervals. This information is
used to select one of several timing schemes stored in the controller’s memory.
3. Traffic actuated: used sensing devices to alter the length and/or sequence of signal
indication

Detectors can be activated by passage or presence of vehicle

Physical principles for detection

1. Pressure
2. Distortion in a magnetic field
3. Interruption of a light beam
4. Change in radar wave frequency
5. Change in inductance of conducting loop
6. Video detection using image processing techniques