| Description |
Traffic congestion is an increasing problem in most urban areas in the United States. One of the sources of this problem is the automobile-oriented development that encourages automobile use and suppresses other transportation modes. A good transit system can satisfy most of the requirements of a transportation system user. A transit system must be efficient, safe, comfortable, and competitive to private cars in order to attract more riders. Transit Signal Priority (TSP) is an operational strategy that facilitates transit vehicles at signalized intersections. It improves transit efficiency and helps transit offer travel times competitive to private cars. A lot of studies conducted in the past 40 years show the major possibilities and benefits of TSP. The goal of this research is to develop a simulation-based methodology for the evaluation and improvement of TSP strategies. The objectives consist of evaluating existing and future TSP systems, and developing field-ready algorithms that provide adaptive ways for achieving different levels of TSP and improving its operation. The focus of the research is on using traffic microsimulation to evaluate and improve TSP, but it also looks into some field-based implementations and evaluations for additional support. The analysis of different TSP strategies is performed on existing and future rapid transit mode implementations, namely Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT). The results from the presented studies show the major benefits of TSP implementations for transit operations and small disruptions for vehicular traffic. Depending on the selected strategies and level of TSP, the travel time savings for transit can be between 10% and 30%, the reduction in intersection delay can exceed 60%, while running time reliability and headway adherence are greatly improved. These improvements in transit operations can make transit more efficient and competitive to private cars, justifying the TSP implementation. This research offers significant contributions to the state of TSP practice and research. It provides detailed insights into TSP operations, develops methods for its evaluation, and describes algorithms for achieving different levels of TSP. A significant part of the research is dedicated to the use of Software-in-the-Loop (SIL) traffic controllers in microsimulation. Through this research, SIL is proven to be a powerful tool for simulating complex traffic signal operations and TSP. |
