Arterial streets are interrupted flow facilities that balance two purposes. They serve as through trips and providing commercial and residential access to adjacent land. A dominant factor in urban arterial street operations is the presence of traffic signals, that govern the flow of vehicles that entering and exiting an arterial segment. Consequently, the performance of an arterial street is predominately influenced by delays incurred at traffic signals, with measures of effectiveness (MOEs) primarily being the function of the performance at the arterial segment level. This paper presents a practical procedure to collect and analyze Global Positioning System (GPS)-based travel time data that readily reflects measures of performance for both segments and extended arterial sections. Underlying this procedure is an assumption that both average travel speed and average intersection approach delay may be calculated as a function of arterial segment travel time and results in travel time being a primary field measurement utilized for gauging arterial performance. The procedures developed include both field data collection techniques that center on GPS technologies and algorithms for processing the gathered GPS-based travel time data.
Abstract