Optimization for Pedestrian and Vehicular Delay in a Signal Network

Abstract

The efficiency of an arterial network can be enhanced by optimizing the user costs incurred because of delays and other socioeconomic factors. Until recently, research mostly focused on minimizing vehicular delay to optimize user costs. Currently, no signal coordination tool exists to balance delays to both vehicles and pedestrians. A methodology that uses known techniques and available tools to identify an optimal signal coordination plan is developed. Pedestrian delay patterns are obtained from previous research. Delay data for vehicles are based on the modeling of peak-hour traffic conditions in urbanized areas of a hypothetical city. The signal optimization software Synchro (Version 3.2) was used to investigate the variations in vehicle delay with different signal coordination plans and offsets. The results reveal that the best offsets for vehicles and pedestrians are not necessarily the same. Consequently, a signal coordination plan that would benefit both should consider the total user costs of the system. The results show that the highest total pedestrian delay can spike up the user costs more than the highest total vehicular delay. The offset that generates the optimal user cost can be different from the best offset for vehicles or pedestrians. Thus, a balance between pedestrian delay and vehicular delay can be achieved to arrive at an optimal signal coordination plan.