This article presents two case studies to show the benefits of modern overhead radar-based vehicle detectors, offering easier installation and substantially lower maintenance costs than traditional magnetic loop detectors. Microwave motion detection is a field-tested, cost-effective, efficient method of vehicle detection. At a major cross-roads, with five traffic lanes on each road, it was necessary to keep traffic moving at an optimal pace, so that eight TC-26B overhead vehicle detectors were installed for this eight-phase application. The signal settings were modified according to whether left-turn or through vehicle detectors were activated; the modifications were appropriate extensions of the green times for the corresponding phases. When a critical signal-controlled T-junction was being reconstructed, it was necessary to close one of the streets at certain points during the summer. This required the temporary application of four TC-20 all-purpose overhead vehicle detectors, one for each phase. The TC-20 uses a wide-beam microwave signal to detect vehicles moving in one direction only, and can very easily be moved between different sites.
Abstract