Incorporating Pedestrian Considerations into Signal Timing

Dissertation Summary:Over the past two decades, walking as a mode of transportation has gained increased attention owing to the many benefits associated with it, such as reduced emissions, lower congestion levels and improvements in personal health. Despite the increased attention, little resources have been directed towards optimizing the transportation system for the benefit of pedestrians. Until now, signal timing at intersections has been largely vehicle centric without explicitly incorporating pedestrian considerations. However, with increasing pedestrian demand especially in urban areas, there is a critical need to incorporate pedestrian considerations into the signal timing design, so that engineers consider the needs…

Dissertation Summary:Over the past two decades, walking as a mode of transportation has gained increased attention owing to the many benefits associated with it, such as reduced emissions, lower congestion levels and improvements in personal health. Despite the increased attention, little resources have been directed towards optimizing the transportation system for the benefit of pedestrians. Until now, signal timing at intersections has been largely vehicle centric without explicitly incorporating pedestrian considerations. However, with increasing pedestrian demand especially in urban areas, there is a critical need to incorporate pedestrian considerations into the signal timing design, so that engineers consider the needs of these important users and the traffic signal logic is responsive to transportation policies and user demands. The proposed research seeks to build on previous work with the primary objective of further describing strategies to optimize signal timing at intersections by incorporating pedestrian needs. This study will evaluate the effects of signal timing parameters on pedestrian delay. Thresholds for coordination and mode of operation will be developed based on pedestrian and vehicle activity at select intersections. Tradeoffs between vehicular and pedestrian delay will be evaluated and a decision matrix will be developed that provides guidance on signal timing strategies.