%0 Generic
%9 Master's Thesis
%A Yang, Yifei
%D 2020
%F pittir:39474
%K Resonant Cycle, Signal Timing Plan, Coordinated Progression, Optimization and Simulation
%T Revising Concept of Resonant Cycle Length and Investigation of Resonant Signal Timing Plans
%U http://d-scholarship-dev.library.pitt.edu/39474/
%X The most difficult part of designing optimal traffic signal timings is selection of an appropriate cycle length. In recent years, a new concept called “resonant cycle” has been introduced by several researchers referring to a particular cycle length that provides good performance on two-way arterial streets for a wide range of traffic flows. However, an attempt to define a resonant cycle length is a difficult task on its own as it has ambiguous connotation and inconsistent meaning to various scholars. Two major schools of thought are: resonant cycles serve either to provide good progression only for coordinated movements or they provide good conditions for all movements (equally prioritizing traffic on main street and side street). This research addresses inconsistencies in definitions and ambiguity of the meaning of resonant cycle length by introducing a new concept called Resonant Signal Timing Plan (RSTP) that , besides cycle length, considers that the entire set of signal timings (splits, offsets, etc.) needs to be “resonant”, or work well with a range of traffic volumes. To investigate the existence of such an RSTP, a methodology was developed to test a number of signal timing optimization scenarios. Each of the tested signal timing plans was evaluated on overall network level (all movements) and main-corridor level (coordinated movements only). The results of evaluations on network level reveal no existence of the RSTP; each candidate RSTP could provide decent performance only for a few hours of similar traffic demands. Similarly, the corridor-level evaluation did not find any RSTP either as conditions differ significantly for traffic in inbound and outbound directions.