Institute for Transport Studies

FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

TRAN5421M –
Road Geometry & Infrastructure

Dr Haibo Chen
Tel: 0113 343 5355; Room: 210, ITS Building
Email: H.Chen@its.leeds.ac.uk

Some Reference documents

• “Traffic Signals”, by Webster & Cobbe, Technical Paper 56, RRL, 1966
• “The prediction of saturation flows for road junctions controlled by
traffic signals”, by Kimber, McDonald and Hounsell, Research Report
67, TRL, 1986
• “Transport in the Urban Environment”, IHT, 1997
• Traffic Advisory Leaflet 05/05, Pedestrian Facilities at Signal-Controlled
Junctions, 2005
• Traffic Advisory Leaflet 01/06, General Principles of Traffic Control by
Light Signals, 2006

(Most available on Construction Information Service database via Library website)

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Institute for Transport Studies
FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

Traffic Control Systems Part 1

• Principles of traffic control, phases & stages

• Capacity and saturation flow
• Effective green, intergreen, lost time
• Webster's method for optimising signal timings
• Worked examples of cycle time and capacity calculation

Overview

• The primary purpose of traffic control by light signals is to separate conflicting

traffic by the division of time, within the available road space, in a safe efficient
and equitable manner.
• The term “traffic” includes all road users: vehicles, (including cycles), pedestrians
and equestrians.

Traffic signals are provided under powers contained in the Road Traffic Regulation Act
1984

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Objectives of traffic control
• Maximise or limit traffic flow

• Regulate demand and/or manage queuing

• Reduce traffic conflicts and delays

• Provide crossing facilities for pedestrians and cyclists

• Reduce accidents and improve safety (about two-thirds of personal injury accidents in
urban areas occur at or near junctions)

• Aid progression in linked or area controlled schemes

• Improve throughput at roundabouts which experience problems at peak periods

• Avoid the necessity for police control

• Give priority to public transport

Traffic signals
Advantages Disadvantages

Minimise space More delay at low flows

Flexibility More risk of some types of accident

Coordination Maintenance/operation cost

Low capital cost Staff salaries & equipment

U-turns difficult

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 Signals v Roundabouts
• When flows unbalanced (as in peaks), roundabouts can give
very large delays

Un-signalised Signalised (queues regulated)

Junction Regulation

Conflicting traffic movements cannot share the same

space at the same time
Traffic at a signalised intersection should be regulated
based on effect of time and/or space:
Time: conflicting traffic movements (sharing same road
space) MUST receive green serially
Space: non-conflicting movements (not sharing same road
space) CAN receive green in parallel

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 Traffic signal sequence in UK
4-State Traffic Lights:
• Red: variable lengths

• Red + Amber (‘starting’ amber): fixed for 2s

3-state
traffic signals
• Green: between min of 7s and max

• Amber (‘leaving’ amber): fixed for 3s

Regulation/Advice
• As well as red, amber, green can
have green arrows (all signal
displays must conform to Traffic
Signs Regulations & General
Directions, or to the ‘Pelican/Puffin’
Regulations)

• All designs should comply with DfT

advice: e.g. ‘Traffic Advisory Leaflets
(or there should be a very good
reason why not!)

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Regulation/Advice (cont.)
• at least 2 signal heads visible by
each traffic movement (usually: one
primary (near the stopline - visible
on approach) & one secondary
(further beyond the stop line (or on
far side of junction) – visible at
stopline)
• all signals should be visible only to
the relevant traffic movements
(positioning of signals, use of
hoods/louvres to ensure this)

UK Definitions
• Phase – the sequence of signal indications given to a
particular traffic movement, and the related equipment

• Stage – portion of cycle during which a given combination

of movements is given green or to separate conflict
movements
• Stages occasionally contain NO green (‘all-red’ stage)
• Stages are arranged to follow each other in a pre-determined order –
unless omitted (if not demanded) to reduce delay.

Thus Phase – Space, and Stage - Time

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Definitions (cont.)

• Intergreen - time between end of green on one phase, and start of

green on next conflicting phase
• Intergreen – dependent on site characteristics
• An Intergreen made up as follows:
• Amber to approach witch is leaving or losing green (3 sec)
• All-red – the separation between amber and red/amber (0 – n secs)
• Red/Amber to approach witch is receiving or gaining green (2 secs)
• Cycle time - completion of whole sequence of stages and
intergreens
• Cycle time determines the length of red and/or green periods but
may not change intergreen

5 sec intergreen –
normally lowest value

3 secs amber 2 secs red/amber

Followed by

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 Stages & Phases example
Phases
Intergreens Simple example:
a actual green at a roundabout
b actual green

b
Cycle (c)

a
Stage 1 Stage 2

b
a

More complex example

Phases
Intergreens c b
a
actual green
b actual green
c actual green
d actual green
Cycle (c) d

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

c a
a d
b b

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 Intergreen period calculation

• Intergreens are normally ‘fixed’ values

• Normal lowest value is 5 s
• Higher values required if:
a) large distance across junction (example given later)
b) Need to allow right-turn vehs to clear
c) higher speed road
d) Need to allow peds to cross, but separate ped phase not
possible
• Lower values (down to 3 s) could in principle be used
– but only if conflict distances are significantly negative

Example Intergreens:

2 sec ‘all-red’
period No ‘all-red’

Phase a

amber (3) red r/a (2)

Phase b red r/a (2) amber (3) red

Intergreen = 7 Intergreen = 5

STAGE (can vary)

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 Case a): Intergreen for large
junctions
• at end of East-West phase, critical points are f, h
• at end of N-S phase, critical points are e, g

• e.g.: at end of E-W, last veh N

from w travels af to collide
with 1st veh from n travels bf
• measure af-bf and ch-dh b
• Take the larger of these = x
a e f
• If x 9m then IG = 5
( 6.5km/h, see TAL 01/06)
• Else for each extra 9m (or
part) add 1s. h g c
• If high % slow vehs, or steep
grade, may require higher d
values Veh. paths

Capacity of one movement

Capacity is about the ability to move a number of vehicles in
a given period of time (which may include different lights)

Normally use hourly flow:

Veh/hr
pcu/hr (PCU stands for Passenger Car Unit and is a uniform measurement of
vehicles equal to a typical car, more info given later)

Saturation flow (s) is constant discharge rate from a queue

during green period (typically 2000 pcu/hr per lane)
Saturation headway, h= 1/s (hours/veh) = 3600/s (secs/veh)

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 Time-space diagram

Effective Green
Rate of Effective Green (g)
Effective
Discharge
Flow
in Fully
Saturated
Green
Saturation flow (s)
Actual Flow
Start End
loss gain End loss
Time
l1 l2

Red R/A Actual green (k) Amber (a) Red

• Actual flow not always the same as saturation flow

• Vehs discharged = area under (solid) curve = area under (dotted) rectangle = s * g
• g is similar to k but shifted and normally assuming g = k +1 as end gain is assumed to be 1s
greater than start loss

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Lost time (l), resulting from a
single Intergreen:
End End
gain loss
l2
Phase a
amber (a) red
Start
loss
red r/a l1
Phase b

I
l

Lost time per change of right-of-way:

l = l2 + (I – a) + l1 = (I – a) + (l1 + l2) = (intergreen - amber) + total_loss
l = (I – 3) + 2 i.e. l = I – 1 = intergreen - 1

Capacity – Theoretical & Practical

• Saturation Flow of approach (s) ~ 2000 x n (where n is No. of lanes)

• Cycle Time (c) - time taken for one complete cycle of the junction

• Effective Green Time (g) - time during which a particular movement

can flow (usually actual green plus 1 second)

• Theoretical Capacity of an approach = s * g / c ~ 2000 * n * g / c

• Practical capacity = 0.9 x Theoretical Capacity ~ 1800 * n * g / c

lanes green/cycle

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Capacity of the whole junction
• Dependent on the total amount of lost time (due to intergreens) in
the cycle, and the rest of the cycle is useful time and shared
among the phases

• If chosen cycle time = c

• And total lost time/cycle = L = ∑ (I – 1)

• Remainder of cycle is useful & is shared among the

phases/stages = c - L (secs)

Capacity of whole junction (cont.)

Example with 3 conflicting
a b c
movements:
6 5 7

• Here, total lost time/cycle = L = ∑ (I – 1) = (6-1) + (5-1) + (7-1) = 15

• Remainder of cycle is useful & is shared among the phases/stages:

∑g = c - L (secs)

• In this example:

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Capacity of whole junction (cont.)
• Given L = 15
• If c = 60 then ∑g = 60 – 15 = 45
hence ∑g /c = 0.75
• If c = 120 then ∑g = 120 – 15 = 105
hence ∑g /c = 0.875

• Thus capacity can be maximised by increasing cycle time (to reduce

the effect of ‘lost time’)

Degree of saturation (x)

q
• Movement Demand = q
s
• Movement Capacity = s * g / c

demand 𝑞 𝑞∗𝑐 𝑞 𝑐 𝑦
• Deg. of saturation, 𝑥 = capacity = 𝑠∗𝑔/𝑐 = 𝑠∗𝑔 = 𝑠 ∗ 𝑔 = 𝜆
Where g/c = λ = proportion of time that saturation flow is “on”

q/s = y = ratio of the demand flow to the saturation flow

Note: x is often quoted as a %, but when used in equations it is expressed as

a decimal (i.e. 100% = 1)

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 Minimum cycle time (cm)
cm = cycle time just long enough to pass all traffic
3600
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 =
𝑐𝑚
3600
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟 = ∗𝐿
𝑐𝑚
3600
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝐺 = 3600 − ∗𝐿
𝑐𝑚
𝐺 3600 𝐿 𝐿
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑒ℎ𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑑, 𝑄 = = (1 − ) = 𝑠 1 −
ℎ ℎ 𝑐𝑚 𝑐𝑚
𝐿 𝑄
1− = = 𝑌 = Σ𝑦
𝑐𝑚 𝑠
𝑳 𝑳
𝒄𝒎 = Or for a given c: 𝒀𝒎𝒂𝒙 = 𝟏 −
𝟏−𝒀 𝒄

Optimum cycle time (Webster)

• Short cycles -> too many phase changes during an hour -> too much time lost, but
• Long cycles -> long delays, as vehicles wait for their turn to discharge through the
intersection.
1.5𝐿 + 5
• Webster’s equation: 𝑐𝑜 = 1−𝑌 Optimum cycle time

Based on delay for whole junction:

D= qi*di = function of c, L, Y and others
Optimum cycle time obtained when:
D kL 5
0, This gives : co
c 1 Y
where : k 1.5
1.5L 5 Cycle time must be integer, so
Hence : co
1 Y [0.75co < c < 1.50co]

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Comments on Webster’s method
1.5L 5
co
1 Y
• Compared to cm, Webster expands lost times by 50% and adds 5 more seconds
to the lost time to give the cycle a buffer against overflow in case of demand
fluctuations.
• It assumes random arrival of all traffic movements, and saturation flow constant
over all of effective green
• ‘Stage based’ signals: all movements started or ended by a stage, do so together
• Choice & order of stages decided manually

cpract can often be more

appropriate

or cpract = 0.9L/ (0.9 -Y)

Apportioning the useful time

• Useful time = c - L (secs), which is available to share

• A common method of apportioning share is such as to

equalise degree of saturation (x)

demand 𝑞 𝑞∗𝑐
• 𝑥 = capacity = 𝑠∗𝑔/𝑐 = 𝑠∗𝑔

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Equalising Degree of Saturation
q* c
x
s* g
Each stage will have one critical movement (i.e. that with greatest x), say
xn & xe are critical
qn

sw sn

qw
qe

ss se

qs

Equalising Degree of Saturation

(cont.)
𝑞𝑛 𝑐 𝑞𝑒 𝑐
𝑆𝑜 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑥𝑛 = 𝑥𝑒 , 𝑖. 𝑒.=
𝑠𝑛 𝑔𝑛 𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑒
𝑞𝑛 𝑠𝑒 𝑔𝑛
𝐶𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑙 𝑐 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑠: ∗ =
𝑠𝑛 𝑞𝑒 𝑔𝑒
𝑔𝑒 𝑞𝑒 𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑒 Split greens in proportion to y values
𝐻𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒: = =
𝑔𝑛 𝑞𝑛 𝑠𝑛 𝑦𝑛 ge = (c – L)*(ye / Y)

i.e. ratio of effective greens (g) = ratio of "flow ratios” (y)

Example: if ye = 0.5, yn = 0.25, and c - L = 60,

Then ge = then ge = 2gn =

+ 2(60
0.25)-=ge40
) Actual greens:
60 * 0.5 / (0.5 ke = ge -1 = 39
So: /g(0.5
gn = 60 * 0.25 e = 40 and =gn20= 20
+ 0.25) kn = gn -1 = 19

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Summary of Webster’s methods
1. Decide stages and sequence
2. Calculate y = q/s for each movement
3. Find critical y for each stage
4. Calculate Y = y If Y > 0.8 try again
5. Calculate total lost time = L
6. Calculate co = (1.5 L + 5) / (1 – Y)
7. Choose suitable cycle time (c) near co
8. Calculate total effective green, G = c – L
9. Calculate effective green of each stage in proportion to y values
g1 = (c – L)*(y1 / Y)
10. Calculate actual greens
k = g – a + l1 + l2
i.e. typically k = g – 1

Example: simple
At a junction between two one-way streets, a simple two-stage sequence is in
operation. The intergreen following stage 1 (serving the North movement) is 5
sec, and following stage 2 (East movement) is 6 sec. The flows and saturation
flows in the am peak hour are as follows:
movement arm Flow Saturation flow y
North 1200 pcu/h 3600 pcu/h 0.3

East 800 pcu/h 2000 pcu/h 0.4

Calculate optimum signal timings using Webster’s method.

Y = 0.7, L = (5 - 1) + (6 - 1) = 9, co = (1.5L + 5) / (1 – Y) = 61.7 ~ 62

g1 = (c – L) * y1/Y = 23 g2 = (c – L) * y2/Y = 30

Answer: co = 62; the actual greens (k) are 22 (North) and 29 (East)

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‘Min green’ test ()
Required to check traffic green times are not too low

e.g. demand flow = 200, sat

flow = 2000

1 2 3

Approximate test to check on how to calculate:

If y*c > min, use y value as normal
If y*c < min, ignore y value and put ‘min + 1’ into the calculations as extra lost
time
Example: y = 0.1, lowest cycle (say) = 60,
y*c = 6 hence y*c < typical min of 7 secs!
Always need to perform this test for traffic phases!

Junction performance
• Reserve Capacity (RC) is used as a measure of how well the
junction operates
• The higher the reserve capacity (i.e. the more spare capacity),
the shorter the queues and delay
• Usually expressed as a percentage of the current demand
• Thus for a selected value of c:
𝒀𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕 −𝒀
• 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑹𝑪 = 𝟏𝟎𝟎 %
𝒀
𝐿 10
• e.g. if L = 10 & c = 90, 𝑌𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 1 − =1 −
𝑐 90

• Thus Ypract = 0.9Ymax = 0.8

0.8−0.6
so if Y = 0.6, 𝑅𝐶 = 100 % = 33%
0.6

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Use of Models
At isolated junctions capacity assessment carried out using:
OSCADY (Optimised Signal Capacity and Delay, by TRL, UK)
LinSig (A Design and Assessment Tool for Traffic Signal Junctions and Urban
Networks, by JCT Consultancy, UK)
SIDRA (Signalized and Unsignalized Intersection Design Research Aid, by the
Australian Road Research Board)

At multiple junctions within a network of closely spaced junctions:

TRANSYT (Traffic Network and Isolated Intersection Study Tool, by TRL, UK)
TRANED (a graphical editor for TRANSYT)
LinSig

MICROSIMULATION:
VISSIM (by PTV, Germany)
Aimsun (by TSS, Spain)

Examples of Qs from this lecture

What is the difference between the capacity and saturation flow of a
movement?
What is the relationship between the effective green and actual green?
What is the relationship between the lost time and intergreens?
What is the difference between degree of saturation and the y value?

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Next Lecture – main points

Saturation flow estimation

Delay estimation at isolated junctions
Multiple conflicting phases and conflict groups
Vehicle actuation & detector systems
Signal controlled pedestrian crossings

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