Timing issues for traffic signals interconnected with highway-railroad grade crossings.

Details

• Creators:
  Datta, Tapan K. ; Gates, Timothy J. ; Savolainen, Peter T. ; Fawaz, Ahmad ; Chaudhry, Amna
• Corporate Creators:
  Wayne State University. Transportation Research Group
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Highway-railroad Grade Crossings Intersections Literature Reviews Railroad Grade Crossings Traffic Signal Control Systems Traffic Signal Preemption Traffic Signal Timing Traffic Signs And Signals--Control Systems Warning Signals
• Publication/ Report Number:
  RC-1578
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Michigan
• Edition:
  Final report.
• Corporate Publisher:
  Michigan. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Research and Best Practices
• Abstract:
  The coordination of highway-railroad grade crossing warning signals with nearby traffic signals is of vital
  
  importance due to potential safety consequences. Interconnections between traffic signals in close
  
  proximity to railroad crossings provide an important safety function by allowing the railroad warning
  
  system to preempt the normal traffic signal operation and provide special phasing to clear vehicles
  
  queued over the railroad tracks, prohibit others from joining the queue, and maintaining traffic flow for
  
  non-conflicting traffic movements. In Michigan, there are approximately 200 interconnected highwayrailroad
  
  grade crossings that are all under regulatory control of the Michigan Department of
  
  Transportation. The MUTCD provides guidance concerning the use of preemption where the signalized
  
  intersection is within 200 feet of a railroad crossing. There is however, minimal guidance for locations
  
  where intersections are more than 200 feet beyond the railroad crossings. Some of these locations
  
  experience queuing problems due to high traffic volumes. The purpose of this research was to compile
  
  and review literature and current practices related to interconnected traffic signals and preemption in
  
  order to determine solutions for providing safe and efficient timings for the traffic signals and nearby
  
  highway-railroad grade crossing warning signals.
  
  A series of highway-railroad intersection configuration templates was developed as a part of this research.
  
  A set of guidelines was also developed with accompanying software to provide additional assistance for
  
  identification of possible interconnection locations that could utilize preemption concepts. The guidelines
  
  also assist in the determination of signal timing parameters for the phasing and timing design required as
  
  a part of the concept.
  
  
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  2010-0298
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6b3ead686b85c601f5f8e3ed1650d8876fd7400e13213d672254abeb746e0e63002fac61e8d9f295cc9432dea42942dd27ed40bf20075cf2445423eb2471f54d
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25657/dot_25657_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 4.65 MB ]