Properties of Vehicle-Actuated Signals: II. Two-Way Streets

G. F. Newell and E. E. Osuna
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G. F. Newell: University of California, Berkeley, California
E. E. Osuna: University of California, Berkeley, California

Transportation Science, 1969, vol. 3, issue 2, 99-125

Abstract: The methods of analysis used in part I are extended to the analysis of a vehicle-actuated signal at the intersection of two two-way streets (four-way intersection) at which there is no turning traffic. The main conclusion is that the high efficiency of a vehicle-actuated signal as compared with a fixed-cycle signal for one-way streets as discussed in part I, does not necessarily extend to the case of two-way streets. In particular, if the flows in opposite direction on the two-way street are nearly equal and the intersection is nearly saturated, then it is very inefficient (even worse than a fixed-cycle) for a vehicle-actuated signal to follow a policy of holding a signal green until the last of the two discharging queues has vanished (it is even worse to switch when only one queue has vanished). In all cases, the competition between incompatible desirable policies for the two opposing traffic streams leads to compromise strategies that give considerably higher delays on all approaches than occurs on one-way streets.

Date: 1969
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