Effectiveness of Adaptive Traffic Control for Arterial Signal Management

A number of adaptive control algorithms have been developed in the US and overseas. However, the practical implementation of adaptive control is limited especially in California. There is a need to develop adaptive control algorithms, evaluate their performance through a field test, and develop a deployment plan for possible Statewide application. The objectives of the study are identify and select the most promising of existing adaptive control algorithms, develop improved algorithm(s) as appropriate, conduct field tests on real-world arterials, and develop recommendations for deployment of adaptive control. This report describes the work performed in the first phase of the research conducted under PATH Task Order 5322. It summarizes the findings from the literature review and presents the study methodology. A section of the Pacific Coast Highway in the city of Lomita was selected as the test site for evaluation of adaptive signal control strategies. A methodology was developed to develop a time-varying origin-destination (OD) matrix from the system loop detector data at the site. The calibrated OD matrix was applied to a microscopic representation of the site created in PARAMICS. Finally, a plug-in for simulating signal control in PARAMICS was written. It simulates non-adaptive strategies such as pretimed, isolated actuated, coordinated actuated, traffic responsive, and critical intersection control, as well as adaptive strategies such as RHODES and TUC.