The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Accounting for midblock pedestrian activity in the HCM 2010 urban street segment analysis
Author:	Forde, Albert
View Online:	njit-etd2015-043 (xix, 235 pages ~ 4.2 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Degree:	Doctor of Philosophy
Program:	Transportation
Document Type:	Dissertation
Advisory Committee:	Daniel, Janice Rhoda (Committee chair) Chien, I-Jy Steven (Committee member) Liu, RongFang (Committee member) Bladikas, Athanassios K. (Committee member) Yang, Jian (Committee member)
Date:	2015-05
Keywords:	Midblock HCM 2010 Pedestrian Platoon dispersion Urban street
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	The Urban Street segment analysis Chapter of the 2010 Highway Capacity Manual (HCM 2010) provides a methodology for analyzing automobile performance on signalized roadway segments within an urban roadway network. The methodology involves applying a platoon dispersion model to: a) predict the vehicle arrival flow profiles at a downstream signalized intersection; b) use the predicted arrivals to compute the proportion of vehicle arrivals on green; and c) subsequently estimate the delay, travel speed and Level of Service (LOS) under which the segment operates. Vehicles arriving during the red interval at a signalized intersection generally accumulate and form a platoon. When the signal turns green, the platoon of vehicles is discharged from the upstream intersection to the downstream intersection. As vehicle speeds fluctuate, the platoon will disperse before it arrives at the downstream intersection. This is called Platoon dispersion. Notwithstanding its importance and application in evaluating the performance of urban roadway segments, the predictive ability of the HCM 2010 platoon dispersion model under friction and non-friction traffic conditions has not been evaluated. Friction traffic conditions include midblock pedestrian activity, on-street parking activity, and medium to high truck volume. Furthermore, one key limitation of the methodology for evaluating automobile performance on urban street segment is that it does not account for the delay incurred by platoon vehicles due to pedestrian activity at midblock (or mid-segment) crosswalks Therefore, the first objective of this research is to evaluate the predictive performance of the HCM 2010 platoon dispersion model under friction and non-friction traffic conditions using field data collected at four urban street segments. The second and primary objective is to develop an integrated deterministic-probabilistic (stochastic) model that estimates the delay incurred by platoon vehicles due to midblock pedestrian activity on urban street segments. Results of the statistical model evaluation show statistically significant difference between the observed and predicted proportion of arrivals on green under traffic. The results, however, show no statistically significant difference between the observed and predicted proportion of vehicle arrivals on under no traffic friction condition. In addition, the developed delay model was validated using field measured data. Results of the statistical validation show the developed midblock delay model performs well when compared to delays measured in the field. Sensitivity analysis is also performed to study the relationship between midblock delay and certain model parameters and variables. The model parameters are increased and decreased by 50% of their baseline values.