Operation Green Light Traffic Signal Coordination Report 7th Street Trafficway/Rainbow Boulevard — Central Avenue to 43rd Avenue
Introduction Operation Green Light (OGL) is a regional effort to improve traffic flow and reduce vehicle emissions. Managed by the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), Operation Green Light works with federal, state and local agencies to develop and implement a system to coordinate traffic signal timing plans and communication between traffic signal equipment across jurisdictional boundaries. This report details the work completed on the 7th Street Trafficway and Rainbow Boulevard corridor in 2013, and the benefits to the traveling public resulting from this work.
Corridor orientation The Rainbow Boulevard corridor is a part of the OGL system from Central Ave to 43rd Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas. See Figure 1 for a map of the area.
Figure 1. Map of the Rainbow Boulevard study area.
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The 14 signalized intersections on Rainbow itself are spread over approximately four miles. The two ramp signals at I-35 are tied together as a single intersection. For the purposes of this study, we also include the signals at Central Avenue and Mill Street, Central Avenue and I-70, Southwest Boulevard from Mission Road to 31st, 31st Street and Roanoke, and 39th and Stateline. All the signals covered in this report are owned by the city of Kansas City, Kansas, except for 31st Street and Roanoke, which is owned by the city of Kansas City, Missouri. The traffic signal equipment in Kansas City, Kansas, is maintained by the Board of Public Utilities.
The Rainbow corridor is a four-lane road except for between southbound I-35 and Southwest Boulevard where it is six lanes. The speed limit varies through the corridor. It is 30 mph on the south end to just north of 36th Avenue. North of this it is 40 mph up to just south of Osage Avenue. From there to Kansas Avenue, the limit is 35 mph. From Kansas Avenue to Pacific Avenue, which is between Central and I-70, the limit is 40 mph again. North of Pacific, the speed limit is 30 mph. The average daily traffic is approximately 22,000 vehicles per day just south of Southwest Boulevard. All intersections have vehicle detection for all movements except Central Avenue and Mill which only has detection for the northbound and southbound approaches. Communications between the signal controller cabinets and the Traffic Operations Center are made through the OGL wireless network.
The land use varies along the corridor from residential on the north, a mix of residential and industrial from Kansas Avenue to Southwest Boulevard, to the University of Kansas Medical Center (KU Med) on the south end of the corridor. The north end of the corridor is a primary route to downtown Kansas City, Kansas. The I-70 and I-35 interchanges are important sources and destinations of traffic for the corridor. Southwest Boulevard, a crossing corridor across Rainbow, is a heavily traveled route to and from Kansas City, Missouri, and, as a parallel to I-35, is often used for freeway incident detour traffic. The area from 36th Avenue to 43rd Avenue is dominated by KU Med, both in terms of vehicular traffic as well as heavy pedestrian activity. Both Kansas Avenue and 43rd Avenue east and west of the Rainbow corridor are other OGL corridors, but changes to those signals will not be analyzed in this report.
Pre-existing conditions Prior to OGL's work on the corridor all the signals were running free.
New coordination plans The services of a consulting firm were utilized to analyze the corridor and develop the signal coordination plans for all time periods. he final set of plans were installed in May 2013. The signals at Central Avenue and I-70 as well as Southwest Boulevard and I-35 / Mission Road were kept in free mode at all times of day after the initial analysis and implementation. It was decided, primarily based on field observations of the traffic flow, that, at this time, these intersections do not benefit from coordination enough to justify the added delay to the non-coordinated movements. See Table 1 for times and cycle lengths of the new plans. Outside of the times shown, the intersections run free, including all times on weekends.
The signal at Rainbow and 36th, which has a very heavy southbound, left-turn movement in the morning, but has only one turn lane, was programmed with southbound through and southbound left as the coordinated phases for the A.M. Peak plan. Then after 7 a.m., the northbound through volumes start to pick up more, so, at that time, northbound through becomes a dual-coordination phase. This is a setting in the controller where this phase will also be guaranteed its green time and portion of the cycle.
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Rainbow and Marty was programmed to utilize a proprietary coordination mode available in the controller called Fully Actuated Coordination mode. In this mode, the controller has a smaller than normal window of time set for the coordinated phases, northbound and southbound, in this case, and outside of this window the controller runs free. This allows for more flexible servicing of the frequent pedestrians crossing eastbound and westbound at this intersection, perhaps even twice in the same cycle, if conditions permit.
As a part of this retiming process, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) manual was utilized to develop the yellow and red vehicle clearance intervals, as well as the applicable pedestrian crossing times per the 2009 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to be consistent with the new standards.
Table 1. New coordination plans Cycle Time Plan Length Exceptions/Notes 7:00 AM Peak 90/45 Mill Half Cycle 9:00 Off Peak 90/45 Mill Half Cycle 15:30 PM Peak 90/45 Mill Half Cycle
Central Ave Central 18:00 Free N/A
6:30 AM Peak 90/45 I -70 EB Free until 7:00 I-70 Ramps Half Cycle 9:00 Off Peak 90/45 I-70 Ramps Half Cycle 15:30 PM Peak 90
70 to Osage to 70
- I 18:00 Free N/A
6:30 AM Peak 110/55 Metropolitan — free until 7 a.m. Southwest Blvd. East of 7th — Half Cycle 39th and Stateline — Free until 7 a.m. then half cycle 9:00 Off Peak 100/50 Metropolitan — free 9—11:30 a.m. Southwest Blvd., East of 7th — Half cycle 39th and Stateline — Free 15:30 PM Peak 110/55 Southwest Blvd., East of 7th — Half cycle 39th and Stateline — Half cycle
Metropolitan to 43rd to Metropolitan 18:00 Off Peak 100/50 Metropolitan — Free starting 18:00 (6 p.m.) Southwest Blvd., East of 7th — Half cycle 39th and Stateline —Free starting 18:00 20:00 Free N/A
Results
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For a detailed explanation of the Measures of Effectiveness (MOEs) used by MARC staff to evaluate timing plan changes, please see the document titled OGL MOE Methodology found online as referenced at the end of this report.
MARC staff performed travel time studies before and after the implementation of the coordination plans in order to gauge the effectiveness of the new plans. The southbound travel time runs started from just north of Calvin Street and northbound runs started from a driveway just south of 43rd Avenue, so as to achieve a random arrival at the first intersection in each direction. The raw results of the travel time runs can be found in Appendix A and a summary of these results is found in Table 2.
MARC staff also performed a visual inspection of all non-coordinated movements to ensure that there was no undue delay on side streets or left turns. In addition, all non-coordinated movements were examined with traffic signal coordination modeling software as detailed in the following section.
Travel time runs were also completed on Southwest Boulevard, however, it was decided not to coordinate the intersection of Southwest Boulevard and Mission Road and the Southwest Boulevard corridor was reduced in number of lanes between the before and after runs, thus, the results of those studies are not useful. Travel time runs were not completed along Central Avenue although the eastbound and westbound movements were coordinated between Mill and 7th. The same is true of 39th and State Line. In each of these cases all the movements at the applicable intersections were analyzed with the traffic signal modeling software along with the non-coordinated movements to get before and after results.
As noted above, in the New Coordination Plans section, the controller at Rainbow and Marty runs a special coordination mode to reduce delay for the side street and pedestrians. This mode of operation cannot be modeled with the traffic signal modeling software. Thus, the change in performance of this intersection from before to after should, in reality, be better than calculated.
There were some other changes along the corridor between the before conditions and after conditions. Most notably, Rainbow & 39th now has a NB left turn movement where there was none before, and both NB and SB left turns at that intersection are now protected-permissive flashing yellow arrow left turn signals where previously the SB left was protected only movement. Another change that occurred was that all pedestrian movements were put on recall at 39th & Stateline. In order for these changes to not affect the results of the corridor modeling, both the before and after conditions were modeled as the intersections are currently configured, thus the differences in performance between the models are due only to the changes made through OGL.
Kansas Avenue east and west of 7th Street Trafficway is another OGL corridor. Changes to that corridor, including the changes to the intersection of 7th and Kansas Avenue, were analyzed in the Kansas Avenue Signal Coordination Report (available on marc.org/ogl) referenced at the end of this report. Those changes, that would overlap with the changes studied here, were excluded from the analysis to prevent duplicating the reporting of benefits.
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Table 2. Results of travel time studies / entire corridor / one vehicle Travel Travel Number Avg Approximate Time Delay of Speed Fuel ----- Emissions (grams) ----- average AM (sec) (sec) * Stops ** (mph) (gal) HC CO NOx veh/peak hr NB Before 593.7 210.6 6.5 23.9 0.2394 25.3057 254.0015 16.1718 477 After 506.8 123.7 3.2 28.0 0.2102 20.7050 226.4382 12.4275 Change -86.8 -86.8 -3.3 4.1 -0.0292 -4.6007 -27.5633 -3.7444 Percent Change -14.6% -41.2% -51.3% 17.1% -12.2% -18.2% -10.9% -23.2%
SB Before 593.0 199.1 6.3 23.9 0.2364 24.7994 250.0344 15.6117 507 After 506.0 112.1 2.3 28.0 0.2084 20.8756 223.0993 12.7279 Change -87.0 -87.0 -4.0 4.1 -0.0280 -3.9239 -26.9351 -2.8839 Percent Change -14.7% -43.7% -63.2% 17.2% -11.8% -15.8% -10.8% -18.5%
Volume -weighted Average Percent Change -14.6% -42.5% -57.4% 17.2% -12.0% -17.0% -10.8% -20.7%
Noon NB Before 625.1 242.0 6.7 22.7 0.2554 27.3779 283.9364 17.5622 573 After 511.8 128.7 3.0 27.7 0.2110 21.1598 227.0420 12.9124 Change -113.3 -113.3 -3.7 5.0 -0.0444 -6.2181 -56.8944 -4.6498 Percent Change -18.1% -46.8% -55.0% 22.1% -17.4% -22.7% -20.0% -26.5%
SB Before 609.0 215.1 7.0 23.3 0.2498 26.9559 275.7321 17.5254 516 After 575.3 181.4 4.7 24.7 0.2252 22.9923 238.0096 13.8736 Change -33.7 -33.7 -2.3 1.4 -0.0246 -3.9636 -37.7225 -3.6518 Percent Change -5.5% -15.7% -33.3% 5.9% -9.9% -14.7% -13.7% -20.8%
Volume -weighted Average Percent Change -12.1% -32.0% -44.7% 14.4% -13.8% -18.9% -17.0% -23.8%
PM NB Before 745.0 361.9 8.0 19.0 0.2677 28.2129 272.6788 16.6596 733 After 579.8 196.7 3.8 24.5 0.2225 22.3890 228.8682 13.2058 Change -165.2 -165.2 -4.2 5.4 -0.0452 -5.8238 -43.8106 -3.4538 Percent Change -22.2% -45.6% -52.5% 28.5% -16.9% -20.6% -16.1% -20.7%
SB Before 683.8 289.9 7.5 20.8 0.2516 26.7061 253.0473 16.3635 574 After 559.3 165.4 2.8 25.4 0.2177 21.7019 232.0815 12.6006 Change -124.4 -124.4 -4.7 4.6 -0.0338 -5.0042 -20.9658 -3.7629 Percent Change -18.2% -42.9% -62.2% 22.2% -13.4% -18.7% -8.3% -23.0%
Volume -weighted Average Percent Change -20.4% -44.5% -56.8% 25.7% -15.4% -19.8% -12.6% -21.7% (Due to rounding and linking of data from other sources, calculations may appear imprecise) * Travel Delay is calculated here manually as the difference between travel time measured and the ideal travel time at speed limit. ** A stop is an instance where the vehicle speed drops below five mph.
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Calculating net benefits Using the travel time results for each link along the corridor, the turning movement counts, and the data from the traffic signal coordination software models, MARC staff estimated the net benefits to the traveling public resulting from the timing plan changes.
These calculations for the Rainbow corridor are shown in Appendix B. A summary of the resulting estimates is given in Table 3 below. It is important to also note that the benefits are only quantified for the time periods that were analyzed in depth, in this case, two hours in the morning peak period, two hours at noon, and two hours in the evening peak period.
Table 3. Estimate of MOEs net results per business day, for all significantly affected vehicles. Travel Number Fuel ----- Emissions (kg) ----- AM Time (hr) of Stops (gal) HC CO NOx NB Change -15.3 -2420 -18.2 -2.82 -15.8 -2.29 SB Change -15.6 -2240 -19.5 -2.90 -19.3 -2.29 Non-Coord* Change 10.7 ** 7.1 0.69 7.0 0.15 Total Change -20.2 -4670 -30.6 -5.02 -28.1 -4.43
Noon NB Change -29.9 -3490 -40.4 -5.60 -45.9 -4.20 SB Change -7.9 -1770 -18.7 -2.99 -26.4 -2.75 Non-Coord* Change 1.9 ** 1.2 0.12 1.2 0.03 Total Change -36.0 -5260 -57.8 -8.47 -71.1 -6.93
PM NB Change -52.6 -4780 -49.5 -6.54 -45.7 -3.93 SB Change -16.7 -4960 -31.8 -4.87 -17.7 -3.82 Non-Coord* Change 3.5 ** 2.3 0.23 2.3 0.05 Total Change -65.8 -9730 -79.0 -11.19 -61.1 -7.70
Travel Number Fuel ----- Emissions (kg) ----- All Time (hr) of Stops (gal) HC CO NOx Grand Total Change -121.9 -19700 -167.5 -24.68 -160.3 -19.05 (Due to rounding and linking of data from other sources, calculations may appear imprecise) * All intersections were analyzed for non-coordinated movement delay. ** The traffic signal coordination modeling software does not track stops in a way that is comparable to the stops measured in the travel time runs, thus change in stops was not included for non-coordinated movements.
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By quantifying the net savings in travel time and fuel usage, the economic impact from the Rainbow project can be calculated. The total change in travel time is multiplied by $15.47 per hour, the rate suggested in the Texas Transportation Institute’s (TTI) Urban Mobility report1. Total fuel savings is multiplied by $3.40 per gallon the average price of gas in May 2013 for the Kansas City region. Yearly savings is calculated based on 250 typical business days in a year. The economic impacts are given in Table 4.
Table 4. Economic impacts on traveling public. Travel Total For Time Fuel Period AM Peak Savings $313 $104 $417 Noon Savings $556 $197 $753 PM Peak Savings $1,018 $269 $1,286 Total Daily Savings $1,890 $569
Grand Total Savings $2,460 per day
$614,000 per year
(Due to rounding and linking of data from other sources, calculations may appear imprecise)
Benefit-to-cost ratio MARC staff anticipates that the continued operations of the OGL system will cost approximately $,1800 per signal annually in labor, contract costs, equipment repair and maintenance and other direct costs. Therefore, the annual cost associated with the 21 signals in the Rainbow study area is $37,800 per year. The benefit-to-cost ratio for this corridor retiming project is therefore 16 to 1.
Discussion and conclusion The new coordination plans implemented on 7th Street Trafficway and Rainbow Boulevard are a benefit to the motoring public. Not all movements see improvements at all times of day, and some see more than others. However, overall benefits are significant. As shown in Table 3, there was a large benefit for vehicles traveling along the coordinated movements, while non-coordinated movements experience an increase in delay. This is to be expected, since all signals previously ran freely. The improvement for the coordinated movements, however, far outweighs the delay experienced by the other movements.
As a result of the efforts expended on this corridor, the traveling public will save around $614,000 annually in the cost of their time and fuel, as compared with the amount of time and fuel they would have spent on this corridor without any changes. However, as time passes, traffic patterns will change that could alter the travel profile along this corridor, and may require additional adjustments to the signal timing to preserve efficient operation. Additionally, as the price of gasoline changes, the savings realized by the public is impacted.
For more information, learn about OGL online: http://www.marc.org/Transportation/Commuting/Operation-Green-Light/About-OGL.aspx
[Appendix A. Raw PC-Travel results] [Appendix B. Calculations of net results in MOEs for all significantly affected vehicles]
1 http://mobility.tamu.edu/
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