T3e Webinar Overview

Signal Control Priority and Alternative Intersections in Connected Vehicle Environments

Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET
Cost: All T3e webinars are free of charge.
PDH: 1.0 View PDH Policy

T3 and T3e Webinars are brought to you by the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) ITS Joint Program Office (JPO). References in this webinar to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm, or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the USDOT.

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Background

Connected vehicle (CV) protocols and standards are in development with a limited number of field tests; hence, they have often been evaluated through simulation. CV technologies allow many applications that can enhance safety and operation performance for CV-equipped vehicles. Signal control priority (SCP) in the CV environment is one of the applications that can enhance the operation of traffic signals and reduce delays. SCP, as well as most of the other applications, depends on communication between vehicles and traffic signal controllers and the exchange of information contained in basic safety messages (BSMs). The base information contained in a BSM is vehicle speed and position, but can also include occupancy, schedule, or status of various vehicle systems.

Alternative intersection designs are gaining interest due to their potential in reducing delays and mitigating congestion. Previous studies have shown that continuous flow intersections (CFIs) are greatly superior to conventional intersections, especially when the traffic demand approaches or exceeds the capacity of conventional designs and when heavy left-turn movements require protected phases. However, the effects of CVs on operations and safety of CFIs have still not been explored in depth.

This presentation will describe the development of algorithms for simulating CVs in VISSIM microsimulation, and offer an assessment of operations and safety of SCPs and CFIs.

Target Audience

The target audience includes:

• State and local Departments of Transportation;
• Transportation engineers and transportation planners;
• Public transportation agencies and metropolitan planning organization staff;
• Consultants;
• Transportation software vendors;
• Researchers and practitioners with an interest in CV applications, SCP, and alternative intersection designs; and
• Students interested in new transportation engineering technologies.

Learning Objectives

Objectives of this webinar are that participants will learn about:

• Special signal operations and alternative intersection designs
• SCP in the CV environment
• Benefits of transit and freight signal priority based on CV technology concerning traditional SCP
• Operational and safety performance of CFIs under different CV market rates.

Presenters

PhD students from the University of Wyoming, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering will present this webinar. The University of Wyoming is the only research university in Wyoming. The transportation program at the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering is expanding, and currently has three faculty members, one adjunct faculty, and a number of postdoctoral researchers, PhD candidates, and MS students. Individually and collaboratively, the faculty has worked on numerous research studies in various areas of transportation engineering. The transportation program offers over a dozen courses in the transportation engineering area.

Zorica Cvijovic, MS, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming
Ms. Cvijovic is a graduate teaching and research assistant in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming. Zorica has ten years of experience in traffic engineering, transportation, and logistics. Currently, Zorica is pursuing a doctoral degree in transportation engineering at the University of Wyoming; she received a master’s degree in traffic and transportation engineering from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, in September 2011. The base of her research is the implementation and evaluation of operation and safety performances of various applications in the connected vehicle environment using microsimulation tools. Zorica has vast experience in using many simulation software packages, traffic signal controller software-in-the-loop applications, as well as the Python programing language.

Mutasem Alzoubaidi, MS, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming
Mr. Alzoubaidi is a graduate teaching assistant at the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming, where he is currently pursuing his PhD in transportation engineering. Before joining the University of Wyoming, Mutasem worked for one year as a Traffic Engineer/Transportation Planner at Sets International, a multinational transportation engineering consulting firm. He earned his BS in civil engineering/highways and bridges engineering at Al-Balqa Applied University, followed by an MS in civil engineering/transportation at the University of Jordan. Mutasem’s research interests include traffic operations and control, traffic simulation and modeling, signalized intersections, unconventional intersection designs, and intelligent transportation systems.

Milan Zlatkovic, PhD, PE, PTOE, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, University of Wyoming
Dr. Zlatkovic is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering at the University of Wyoming. He has over 15 years experience in traffic engineering, public transportation, transportation planning, traffic simulation and modeling, and traffic safety, among other areas. Milan earned his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Utah in civil engineering with a focus on transportation in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Dr. Zlatkovic is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) with the State of Utah, and a certified Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE). He has led over a dozen research projects, and authored/co-authored close to 50 journal and conference papers. He has taught nine different courses in the transportation engineering area. He manages the Traffic Operations, Management, Analysis and Simulation (TOMAS) lab at the University of Wyoming.