Investigating the Impact of Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons on the Effectiveness of Adaptive Traffic Control Systems

Many transportation agencies have been deploying adaptive traffic control systems (ATCSs) to enhance the efficiency of signalized intersections and arterial networks. However, the benefits of ATCSs vary across roadways due to factors such as traffic volume, network configurations, and the influence of other intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Pedestrian hybrid beacons (PHBs) are ITS utilized as pedestrian control devices, usually deployed between signalized intersections. PHBs can affect the effectiveness of ATCSs and, hence, need to be considered during ATCS deployments and performance evaluations. This study used a corridor in Tucson, Arizona, to evaluate the impact of PHB activations on the travel time along a corridor with an ATCS. Controller event-based data were used to show the effects of the number of PHB activations on ATCS operations. Other factors were also examined, such as traffic volume, number of pushbutton activations at signalized intersections, time of day, and day of the week. The results indicated that travel time increased with PHB activations, especially during morning peaks. Two activations within five minutes showed a 126% (90 s) travel time increase for upstream segments, and three activations saw a 38.5% (27 s) travel time increase for segments with PHB installed. A regression analysis showed a 3.3% and 6.7% travel time increase for each PHB activation every 15 min in upstream segments and segments with PHB installed, respectively. This study's findings highlight the importance of considering the PHB impact for practitioners selecting ATCS deployment sites for optimal performance.