TRAFFIC SIGNAL

CONTROL
BY
Dr. Mahdi Damghani
INTRODUCTION
 The control of traffic at junctions & intersections
by lights dates back to 1913 in Cleveland

 The use of current versions having three lights was

first introduced in 1918 in Detroit & New York

 The first automatic traffic signal was installed in

1926 in Wolverhampton in the UK
Ohio in the US

Wolverhampton in the UK
PURPOSES
 Control traffic movement
 Reduce congestion
 Improve safety
 Regulate flows within a road network
 They use less space than a roundabout with a
similar capacity
ADVANTAGES
 Minimises space requirements compared with
other types of junctions

 Caters for unequal approach flows

 Links with other junctions

 Relatively low cost

DISADVANTAGES
 Delays (particularly at off-peak times)

 Risk of certain type of accidents (nose to tail

collisions)

 Maintenance costs (equipment, setting &

monitoring)

 No U-turns
HARDWARE
 Signal heads
 Vehicle detectors
 Signal controller (microprocessor)
 Traffic computer
INTERSECTION DESIGN
 The objective is to design both the intersection and
the signal to create a safe & fair common shared
road surface to the road users (cars, trucks,
pedestrians, cyclists, etc)
INTERSECTION DESIGN
 Visibility of signal head
 70m for maximum speed of 50 km/hr
 125 m for maximum speed of 70 km/hr
INTERSECTION DESIGN
 The lane should be 3-5 m wide
 Where the vehicle should stop is at stop line
 In the UK a secondary signal is diagonally located
opposite to the primary one
 pedest

primary

Stop line secondary

Pedestrian crossing (3-12 m wide)

INTERSECTION DESIGN
 Traffic islands;
 Provide safe refuge to pedestrians
 Separate opposing traffic streams
 Provides place for the second
signal column
 If lanes are carrying different
streams then two heads are
provided
INTERSECTION DESIGN
 The central island for pedestrians should be
considered in a manner that each pedestrian would
occupy 0.5 m2

 Waiting pedestrian should be protected by

guardrails

 Bus lanes should terminate before the stop line

 The stop-line for cyclists is usually ahead of that

for other vehicles
SAFETY & FAIRNESS
 User will comply to safety (obeying the rules) if
they perceive it as being fair
 Compliance by pedestrians may not be required by
law
 A degree of fairness is achieved by
 Maximum red time
 For drivers is around 120 s
 For pedestrians is around 60 s
 Minimum green time
 Often between 10-15 s, however it can be reduced to 5 s for
vehicle actuated traffic signals
SAFETY & FAIRNESS
 The end of right of way for a stream is anticipated by a
yellow indication
 The duration of yellow depends on the maximum allowable
speed of the approach
 3 s for speed limit of 50 km/hr
 4 s for speed limit of 60 km/hr
 5 s for speed limit of 70 km/hr
 For the comfort of passengers on buses and trams longer
period of yellow is required
 3 s for speed limit of 30 km/hr
 8 s for speed limit of 70 km/hr
 Cyclists require 2 s yellow period
 Pedestrians do not require yellow period
SAFETY & FAIRNESS
 The start of a right of way for a stream is denoted
by a short combined yellow & red indication for 1s
(not more than 2s) so that the drivers can get into
gear
 The above situation does not exist for trams, buses,
cyclists & pedestrians (generally)
An example of UK 4 state traffic light:
1&2 stop
3 go if clear
4 stop if safe to do so
CLEARANCE TIMES
 It is critical to the safety of intersections

 Defined as the time needed to elapse between the

end of right of way for one stream (start of red) &
the start of right of way another incompatible
stream (start of green)
 CLEARANCE TIMES

t z  tu  t r  te
Changeover Entry time
time
Clearing
Clearance time
time

The clearing distance S0 is the distance from the stop-line to the

conflict point for the streaming losing right of way plus 1 vehicle
length (0 for cyclist, 6m for vehicles 15m for trams)

The entry distance Se is the distance from the stop-line to the

conflict point for the streaming gaining right of way

Changeover time is an allowance made for those vehicles that are

unable to stop during the yellow period (0-3s)
EXAMPLE
 Consider two streams. The one losing right of way
has S0=13m , whereas the stream gaining right of
way has Se=11m. Calculate the clearance time
reasonable clearing speed  10 m/s
reasonable entry speed  11 m/s
changeover time  3s
average vehicle length  6m
t u  3s
t r  (6  13) / 10  1.9s
t e  11 / 11  1s
t z  3  1.9  1  3.9 s  4 s
CONTROL VARIABLES
 Usual sequence of signals

Variable Fixed Variable Fixed Variable

period period period period period
CONTROL VARIABLES
 Some streams can simultaneously opt for green
light without conflict so they are grouped into
stages
 Streams with similar green times should be
grouped together
 Keep the number of stages to minimum
 For a 4-arm intersection 2 stages are preferred
 More than 2 stages may result from the need of
public transport to have its own priority and so
adds another stage, etc
CONTROL VARIABLES
 Some terms;
 Intergreen period
 The time between the end of one stage to the start of the next
stage, i.e. the duration of the stage transition normally equal
to maximum clearance time
 Signal plan
SIGNAL PLAN EXAMPLE
INTERGREEN INTERGREEN INTERGREEN

GREEN A RED RA

GREEN A RED RA

RED RA GREEN A RED

RED RA GREEN A RED

RED RA GREEN A RED

EXAMPLE
 A junction carrying the following traffic flows is to
be controlled by two stage traffic signals
Left turning Straight ahead Right turning Saturation flow
traffic traffic traffic (PCU/hr)
(Veh/hr) (Veh/hr) (Veh/hr)
North arm 15 167 40 1575
South arm 44 171 45 1825
East arm 25 357 140 1975
West arm 58 459 75 2195

 The composition of the traffic is 81% cars, 15%

heavy goods vehicles & 4% public service
vehicles with PCU factors of 1.0, 2.3 & 2.0
respectively.
EXAMPLE
 Calculate the optimum cycle time and effective green
times for the junction assuming:
 Intergreens:5 seconds
 Amber: 3 seconds
 Red/amber time: 2 seconds
 Sum of Start and End lost times per green stage: 2 seconds
 It has been suggested that a fixed all-red period of an
extra 12 seconds should be provided between the
North-South and the East-West stages to assist
pedestrian movements. Estimate the queue lengths
and delays with and without the pedestrian facility for
the West arm of the junction.
SOLUTION
North
arm

167
58
40 15
459
West 75 East
arm 140 arm
357
44 45

171 25

South
arm
SECTION A OF SOLUTION
PCU Factor  (0.81  1.0)  (0.15  2.3)  (0.04  2.0)  1.235

actual flow
y
saturation flow
y N  1.235  (15  167  40)/1575  0.174
y S  1.235  (44  171  45)/1825  0.176
y E  1.235  (25  357  140)/1975  0.326
y W  1.235  (58  459  75)/2195  0.333
NOTE
 Saturation flow
 Capacity of the stream
 The number of vehicles passing through a point whilst
there is a constant supply of vehicles (vehicles in
queue)
 Can be measured from counting the number of vehicle
at 6s intervals passing through the stop-line when green
period of the traffic signal starts
 It is mostly between 1800-2000 veh/hr for a single lane
of average width and a straight path
NOTE
SOLUTION
 Y is the sum of the worst case y values for each
stage within the signal cycle

Y  y S  yW
Y  0.176  0.333  0.509

The biggest ratio in phase 1 phase 2

 NOTE North
arm

West East
arm arm

This problem suggests the

intersection should be controlled
using 2 phases. The first phase
allows for North & South with
their turnings on permitted
South
basis. Phase diagram
arm
The second phase allows for
passage of East & West with
their turnings on permitted basis
NOTE

l1
l2

Effective green period  g '  g  a  l

l  l1  l 2 intergreen

Lost time per stage change  Lstage _ n  I  a  l

NOTE

L  ( I  a)   l
stages stages
SOLUTION
 L is the lost time per cycle

L  2  ( I  a  l )  2  (5 - 3  2)  8 seconds

Intergreen
duration (fixed)

Amber duration
(fixed)
NOTE
 C0 is optimum cycle time and is calculated as

1.5 L  5 1.5 L  5
C0  
1 -  y max 1- Y
stages
SOLUTION
 Calculate C0 as

(1.5  8)  5
C0   35 seconds
1 - 0.509
 SOLUTION
 Calculate effective green period for each phase
(stage)

y max stage 1 0.176

g1 '  (C 0  L)  (35 - 8)  9 seconds
Y 0.509
y max stage 2 0.333
g2 ' (C 0  L)  (35 - 8)  18 seconds
Y 0.509
SOLUTION
 Calculate actual green period for each phase

g1  g1 'l  a  9  3  2  8 sec
g 2  g 2 'l  a  18  3  2  17 sec
SECTION B OF SOLUTION
 Calculate new L which is new lost time due to
extra added red time for pedestrians

L  8  12  20 sec
SOLUTION
 Re-calculate all parameters with new L

(1.5  20)  5
C0   71sec
1  0.509
0.176
g1 '  (71  20)  18 sec
0.509
g1  18  3  2  17 sec
0.333
g2 ' (71  20)  33 sec
0.509
g 2  33  3  2  32 sec
NOTE
 Delays on an approach can be obtained using
SOLUTION
 For no pedestrian provision delay becomes;

18
  0.519
35
731
q  0.203 PCU/Second
3600
2195
s  0.61 PCU/Second d  8.3 sec
3600
0.203
x  0.647
(0.519  0.610)
c  35sec
NOTE
 Queue length can be obtained as

 qr 
 qd  
max 2
qr 
r  C0  g '

The length of effective red

SOLUTION
 Queue length for no provision for pedestrians is

 0.203  (35 - 18) 

 ( 0 .203  8.3)   3. 4 PCU 
max 2   3.5PCU
0.203  (35 - 18)  3.5PCU 
SOLUTION
 For pedestrian provision

33
  0.465
71
731
q  0.203 PCU/Second
3600
2195
s  0.61 PCU/Second d  17.9 sec
3600
0.203
x  0.716
(0.465  0.610)
c  35sec
SOLUTION
 Queue length considering provision for pedestrians
is

 0.203  (71 - 33) 

 ( 0 .203  17. 84)   7.5PCU 
max 2   7.7PCU
0.203  (71 - 33)  7.7PCU 
 SIGNAL PLAN FOR THIS TWO PHASE
SIGNAL WITH NO PEDESTRIAN PROVISION

Signal g(s)
group
0 7 14 21 28 35

N-S 8 GREEN A RED A/R

E-W 17 RED A/R GREEN A