NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
CE3121 TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING
Tutorial 2: Signalized Intersection
Traffic Engineering and Transportation Planning
1. How to determine saturation flow
2. How to determine critical lane groups and total cycle lost time
3. How to calculate cycle length and green time allocation
4. Check pedestrian crossing time
1
Question 1 (Design of signalized intersection)
The figure below shows peak-hour volumes for a major intersection. The width of each
crosswalk (or pedestrian crossing) is 2.75 m. The crosswalk lengths in both east-west and
north-south directions are 20.1 m. The speed limit on each approach is 50 km/h. A four-phase
operation is adopted for the intersection and is shown below. It is estimated that the maximum
numbers of pedestrian crossing the north, south, east and west approaches per cycle are 30, 30,
19 and 25 respectively. Develop a suitable vehicle and pedestrian signal timing plan for this
intersection using Webster’s method. Use a yellow interval of 3 sec, 1 sec all-red time, a lost
time of 3.5 sec per phase, a saturation flow of 1615 vphgpl for the right-turn lane, a combined
saturation flow of 3700 for the through and left-turn lane group, a PHF of 0.95, and a minimum
green of 10 sec.
Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase D
209
464 125 175
464
222
128
321
406 152 321
400
2
Solution:
Step 1: Select Signal Phasing (given)
Step 2: Establish analysis lane groups
Given that there are only two lane groups in each phase. Therefore, one lane group must be for
exclusive RT and the TH lane and the TH and LT shared lane form another lane group.
Movement diagram:
EB TH+LT EB RT SB TH+LT SB RT
A B C D A
WB TH+LT WB RT NB TH+LT NB RT
Step 3: Calculate analysis flow rates and adjusted saturation flow rates
Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase D
Lane group m1: EB m2: WB m3: EB m4: m5: NB m6: SB m7: NB m8:
TH+LT TH+LT RT WB RT TH+LT TH+LT RT SB RT
Unadjusted 464+464 321+321 222 128 400+406 209+175 152 125
flow rate
Adjusted 928/0.95 676 234 135 848 404 160 132
analysis =976
flow rate
Saturation flow of 1615 vphgpl for the right-turn lane group (given)
Saturation flow of 3700 for the through and left-turn lane group (given)
Determine critical lane groups and total cycle lost time
Phase A Phase B Phase C Phase D
Lane group m1 m2 m3 m4 m5 m6 m7 m8
Adjusted 928/0.95 676 234 135 848 404 160 132
analysis =976
flow rate
Saturation 3700 3700 1615 1615 3700 3700 1615 1615
flow rate
v/s 0.264 0.183 0.145 0.084 0.229 0.109 0.099 0.082
Max v/s 0.264 (EB TH+LT) 0.145 (EB RT) 0.229 (NB TH+LT) 0.099 (NB RT)
Total lost time L = 4 × 3.5 = 14 sec
Calculate cycle length
1.5 × L + 5 1.5 ×14 + 5
C
=opt = = 98.9 ≈ 100 sec
n
v 1 − 0.737
1− ∑
i =1 s ci
3
Step 6: Allocate effective green time
y 0.264
g1 = g 2 = n c1 ( C − L ) = (100 − 14 ) = 30.8 sec
0.737
∑ yci
i =1
yc1 0.145
g3 = g 4 = n (C − L ) = (100 − 14 ) = 16.9 sec
0.737
∑y
i =1
ci
yc1 0.229
g5 = g 6 = n (C − L ) = (100 − 14 ) = 26.7 sec
0.737
∑y
i =1
ci
yc1 0.099
g 7 = g8 = n (C − L ) = (100 − 14 ) = 11.6 sec
0.737
∑y
i =1
ci
Display Green Time:
GA = g A + t A − YA − ARA = 30.8 + 3.5 − 3 − 1= 30.3 sec > 10 sec
=GB 16.4 sec > 10 sec
=GC 26.2 sec > 10 sec
=GD 11.1 sec > 10 sec
Determine yellow and all-red time.
Yellow interval of 3 sec, 1 sec all-red time (given)
Check pedestrian crossing time.
Since WE < 3.05 m,
L
G p = 3.2 + + ( 0.27 N ped )
Sp
Minimum pedestrian crossing time for the
20.1
North approach G p = 3.2 + + ( 0.27 × 30 ) = 28.1
1.2
20.1
South approach G p = 3.2 + + ( 0.27 × 30 ) = 28.1
1.2
20.1
East approach G p = 3.2 + + ( 0.27 ×19 ) = 25.1
1.2
20.1
West approach G p = 3.2 + + ( 0.27 × 23) = 26.2
1.2
Assume that pedestrians can only cross on Phases A and C:
Minimum vehicular green for phases A (30.3 sec) is equal to 28.1 sec (north/south approaches)
i.e. okay.
4
Minimum vehicular green for phases C (26.2 sec) is equal to 26.2 sec (east/west approaches),
okay.
Vehicular Signal Plan:
Phase G Y AR R=C-G-Y-AR
A 30 3 1 100-30-3-1= 66
B 17 3 1 79
C 26 3 1 70
D 11 3 1 85
Pedestrian Signal Plan:
Approach G Flashing G R
N 11 20.1/1.2 = 17 72
S 11 20.1/1.2 = 17 72
E 8 20.1/1.2 = 17 75
W 9 20.1/1.2 = 17 74
Overall Signal Plan:
Vehicle
0 100
Phase A
Phase B
Phase C
Phase D
Pedestrian
0 100
North
South
East
West