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Chapter 1: The Traffic Signal Control System: Its Pieces and How They Fit Together
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The purpose of this activity is to give you the opportunity to drive along an arterial and note what you see.
The “seeing” and the “noting” are important, as it will help you to focus on the critical parts of the system,
parts that we will document and include in the models that we will develop in the activities to follow.
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Describe how drivers respond to signal displays
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Identify and describe various physical components of a signalized arterial
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Movie file: A03.wmv
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Prepare a one page report summarizing your findings
Learning to discern what is important is a critical skill for the transportation engineer. For example,
when you are driving down an arterial to travel to a destination, what do you look for? You want to
keep a safe distance from other vehicles. You want to watch for pedestrians and bicyclists. And, you
want to watch for control devices such as stop signs or traffic signals.
As a traffic engineer, you will begin to watch for other things:
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Flow rates or traffic volumes
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How the intersection is laid out and the striping of the lanes
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Information, guide, and warning signs
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Signal displays
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The controller cabinet
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How the intersection is performing (do vehicles arrive primarily during red or during green,
do queues clear before the end of green, is there a queue spillback from one intersection to
another, and can pedestrians safely cross the street?)
This video takes you on a tour of Lankershim Blvd, an arterial located in Los Angeles, California.
The four signalized intersections in the video are near Universal Studios. The tour begins with a trip
northbound through the four intersections and then returning southbound. The tour lasts a little more
than four and a half minutes. Your perspective is that of the driver of the car and his passenger.
Figure 24 shows an aerial photograph of one intersection along the driver’s route. Figure 25 is a
diagram, showing the location of the four intersections.
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Exploring the System:
Driving Along an Arterial and Noting What You See