Assessing the Performance of an Emergency Vehicle Preemption System: A Case Study on U.S. 1 in Fairfax County, Virginia

Highway traffic control systems have been deployed to provide emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) at signalized intersections. Industry and transportation researchers have worked to develop analytical methods to establish the degree of benefit of emergency vehicle preemption to the emergency vehicle (EV) community and the impact on other road user groups. This thesis report illustrates the use of an analytical method to evaluate the potential impacts of EVP related to EV safety, and the potential delay to EVs and vehicles on the side street. The method uses EV-specific conflict point and delay analysis with video and other data collected in a field study conducted in Northern Virginia at the intersection of Southgate Drive and U.S. 1. EV related conflict points are characterized in terms of the EV/auto interaction geometry, the signal display, and the severity of potential crashes. EV related delay is characterized in terms of the EV/auto interaction geometry, the signal display, the level of service and the amount of delay to the EV. The EV/auto interaction, the queue length and the signal display characterize increase in delay to vehicles on the side street. The analysis indicates that the severity of EV-specific conflict points is significantly reduced with EVP. The delay to EV does not change significantly and the delay to the vehicles on the side street auto traffic increases.