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An Assessment Methodology for Emergency Vehicle Traffic Signal Priority Systems

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dc.contributor.authorMcHale, Gene Michaelen
dc.contributor.committeechairCollura, Johnen
dc.contributor.committeememberHobeika, Antoine G.en
dc.contributor.committeememberLieu, Henryen
dc.contributor.committeememberTriantis, Konstantinos P.en
dc.contributor.committeememberTignor, Samuel C.en
dc.contributor.departmentCivil Engineeringen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:08:10Zen
dc.date.adate2002-03-27en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:08:10Zen
dc.date.issued2002-02-26en
dc.date.rdate2003-03-27en
dc.date.sdate2002-03-13en
dc.description.abstractEmergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems allow emergency vehicles such as fire and emergency medical vehicles to request and receive a green traffic signal indication when approaching an intersection. Such systems have been around for a number of years, however, there is little understanding of the costs and benefits of such systems once they are deployed. This research develops an improved method to assess the travel time impacts of emergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems for transportation planning analyses. The research investigates the current state of available methodologies used in assessing the costs and benefits of emergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems. The ITS Deployment Analysis System (IDAS) software is identified as a recently developed transportation planning tool with cost and benefit assessment capabilities for emergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems. The IDAS emergency vehicle traffic signal priority methodology is reviewed and recommendations are made to incorporate the estimation of non-emergency vehicle travel time impacts into the current methodology. To develop these improvements, a simulation analysis was performed to model an emergency vehicle traffic signal priority system under a variety of conditions. The simulation analysis was implemented using the CORSIM traffic simulation software as the tool. Results from the simulation analysis were used to make recommendations for enhancements to the IDAS emergency vehicle traffic signal priority methodology. These enhancements include the addition of non-emergency vehicle travel time impacts as a function of traffic volume on the transportation network. These impacts were relatively small and ranged from a 1.1% to 3.3% travel time increase for a one-hour analysis period to a 0.6% to 1.7% travel time increase for a two-hour analysis period. The enhanced methodology and a sample application of the methodology are presented as the results of this research. In addition, future research activities are identified to further improve assessment capabilities for emergency vehicle traffic signal priority systems.en
dc.description.degreePh. D.en
dc.identifier.otheretd-03132002-072311en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-03132002-072311/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/26420en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartmchale_dis_final_1sided.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectemergency vehicleen
dc.subjecttraffic signal priorityen
dc.subjecttraffic simulationen
dc.subjecttransportation planningen
dc.titleAn Assessment Methodology for Emergency Vehicle Traffic Signal Priority Systemsen
dc.typeDissertationen
thesis.degree.disciplineCivil Engineeringen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.leveldoctoralen
thesis.degree.namePh. D.en

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