Site Selection and Preliminary Data Collection for Traffic Responsive Control on TxDOT Closed-Loop Systems (5-4421-01-1)

TxDOT research project 0-4421 "A Simplified Approach for Selecting Optimal Traffic Responsive Control Parameters" developed a novel scientific and computationally based procedure and guidelines for operating coordinated systems with traffic responsive plan selection (TRPS) mode. Since its development in the 1970s, TRPS mode remained an underutilized resource due to the complexity of its configuration. Numerous parameters (i.e., detector weights, thresholds, timing plan look-up tables, TRPS timing plans, etc.) had to be set up correctly for the system to work as intended. As a result, traffic engineers have typically preferred to use the time of day mode of operation for its ease of setup. This project will implement the guidelines developed in research project 0-4421 and document a before and after comparison summary for five locations in Texas. Locations are to be chosen to represent a wide range of traffic and/or arterial configurations. This progress report documents the efforts thus far for fiscal year 2005.