Whose Time Do Traffic Signals Save? Pedestrian-Vehicle Delay Tradeoffs Across Sydney Intersections

David M. Levinson
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David M. Levinson: TransportLab, School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney

Working Papers from University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group

Abstract: At 168 Sydney intersections, estimated pedestrian delay averages 39.8 seconds per crossing if everyone waits for Walk, or 29.8 seconds under observed crossing behavior, compared with 10.4 seconds per detected vehicle. We test earlier pedestrian service while holding pedestrian and vehicle volumes at their current levels. With a 30-second first-call wait target, the 95-site experiment saves 440 pedestrian-hours but adds 886 vehicle-hours, assuming full Walk compliance. At 1.2 occupants per vehicle, pedestrian waiting must count more than 2.42 times as much as vehicle-occupant waiting for the weighted time savings to exceed the added delay. In the seven-day experiment at 35 intersections, the weighted time savings exceed the added delay when pedestrian waiting counts more than 2.22 times as much as vehicle-occupant waiting.

Keywords: pedestrian delay; vehicle delay; traffic signals; modal comparison; signal timing; time allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-11-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Published in Findings

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https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.172237 Published version landing page, 2026 (text/html)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nex:wpaper:paper-2026-29

DOI: 10.32866/001c.172237

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