Evaluating InSync Performance in Microsimulation Aleksandar Stevanovic, PhD, PE Florida Atlantic University Transpo 2012 Bonita Springs, FL October 29, 2012

Why Simulating InSync? Comprehensive evaluation of its performance Controlled experiments Abundance of outputs Better understanding of pros & cons Repeatability and comparability

Originality of this Study No comprehensive evaluation of InSync in microsimulation Regular operations modeled with no attention to special conditions/situations Evaluation of InSync for regular operations (AM, MD, and PM) + Freeway Incident Rail Preemption Extra Demand Inclement Weather

About SR Dunlawton Ave 12 signalized intersections (11 analyzed) Divided 4-6 lane facility Left turns RR crossing & school zones mph speed limits

Why SR421 in Volusia County? A common (sub)urban corridor Difficult to retime Seasonal and annual variations in traffic flows Evacuation route

Data Collection for VISSIM Model Turning movement counts Travel times along mainline (GPS & video) Signal timing sheets & Synchro files Other data – RR gate timings, school zone hours, etc.

Google Map as Background

NEMA-like Ring-Barrier Controllers

Calibration Making sure that modeled and simulated volumes are equal Volume balancing Sources and sinks Saturation flow rates Manual process

Calibration Details – Nova Rd

Calibration Results

Validation Verifying that segment travel times from model and field are comparable Speed distributions Acceleration & deceleration Offsets & detectors Understand limitations

Validation Results AM Peak MD PeakPM Peak

TOD Signal Timings

InSync – Controllers Run Free 1) Disable all coordination (set controller into “free/uncoordinated” mode) 2) Enable Detector Diagnostic Failure Mode a. Set On failure to 250 minutes b. Set Off failure to 5 minutes i) Diagnostic failure mode on a 170 will allow itself to come out of failure. 3) Set all “Minimum Green” times to 5 sec., or as client feels comfortable 4) Leave “Maximum Green” times as before 5) Set “Passage Gap” or “Observed Gap” to 1 sec. 6) For protected/permitted left turns, omit the left turn call when the opposing thru movement is green. Notes: o This will prevent a yellow trap if the controller receives calls on permitted left turn phases when the opposing thru is green, but may not bring on the adjacent green thru movement to allow the left turn a permitted movement. 7) Enable “Soft Recall” on the mainline phases 8) Disable “Yellow Lock” and “Red Lock” detector locking 9) Set all “Detector Delays” to 0 sec. 10) Disable all recalls: Max, Min, Hard, Vehicle, Phase, etc. 11) Remove “Extensions” 12) Disable “Anti-Backup” or “Left Turn Trap” 13) Enable “Max Recall Inhibit”

InSync Detectors in VISSIM

InSync-VISSIM Interface

Field-like InSync Dialog Box If a picture is used, use this layout. Pics are much preferred over bullets or other text.

Simulations Four signal timing scenarios - Identical traffic flows and geometric conditions Field TOD Optimal TOD – single section Optimal TOD – multiple sections InSync Adaptive – no additional adjustments 10 random seeds Three peak periods (AM, MD, and PM) 2.5 hours (15 min for warm up and 15 min for cool off) for each peak period

Operational Scenarios Regular operations - 3 peak periods (AM, MD, and PM) Special operations (only for PM peak) Freeway Incident - Traffic diversion due to a freeway incident Rail Preemption - Impact of disruption caused by freight train operations Extra demand – 20% traffic growth (flat) Inclement Weather - Reduction in speed and sat. flows due to a heavy rain

Freeway Incident An 1-hour incident on I-95 freeway between SR 421 and SR 400 One lane closed – traffic diverts to SR 421 AADT ~ 50,000 veh/day; k factor ~ 15%; d factor ~ 55%; 4 lanes 1,000 veh – diverted to SR 421 during one hour

Diversion Routes vph Incident

Rail Preemption 4 trains modeled in 2 PM peak hours (every 30 mins) Anywhere between 20 – 100 cars in a train (modeled 20, 30, 70, and 100) Train’s speed distributed around 45 mph Gates take about 7 seconds to go up/down

SR 421 & FEC Railway FEC RR

Extra Demand Flat increase of 20% for all of the traffic demand generators Turning movement proportions remain the same Impact on intersections – almost all intersections worsen LOS by one grade Oversaturated network (8 ints. at LOS D or worse; 4 ints. at LOS E or worse)

Inclement Weather Inclement weather conditions (heavy rain) in Florida PM Peak traffic demand unaltered (worst-case scenario) Travelling speeds reduced by ~ 15% (from - 20% to -10%) Saturation flows reduced by ~ 20% (~ ~ 1500 vph)

What was Evaluated? Intersection performance Main-corridor travel times Main street vs. Side street Network performance

Results Examples

Intersection Performance

AM Peak – Intersection Delay

MD Peak – Number of Stops

PM Peak – Average Queue

ED – Level of Service

Main-Corridor Travel Times

IW Travel Times EB

IW Travel Times WB

IW Travel Times All

IW Travel Times - Summary Percent improvement

Main Street vs. Side Street

RP Main vs. Side Street T & L

RP Main vs. Side Street

Network Performance

FI Total Network Delay

FI Total Number of Stops

FI Total Travel Time

FI Network Summary

Summary of Results

Reduction [%] of Delays & Stops Field TODSS OptimizedMS Optimized Regular Operations Total Delay Stops Freeway Incident Total Delay Stops Rail Preemption Total Delay Stops Extra Demand Total Delay Stops Inclement Weather Total Delay Stops Average improvements: Delay ~ 22%; Stops ~ 15 %

Summary – All Scenarios Field TODSS Optimized MS Optimized PM Peak Intersections Travel times Main vs. Side Network InSync better than a respective TOD signal timing Results are not definite or TOD is better

Questions, feedback, comments?