Overview
SRL completed an Urban64 traffic signal installation at the junction of West Hill and King Edward Avenue in Dartford. The junction was undergoing modernisation and Telent, who were the principal contractor for the site, commissioned SRL’s Urban64 system.
The Challenge
The existing signals operated with a phase overlap, where dedicated signals were used for a right turn. The operation also included parallel peds, allowing pedestrians to cross while non-conflicting traffic phases were running. Maintaining these facilities ruled out normal portable signals, as they cannot provide this type of functionality.
During the pre-construction meetings it was evident that to replace the traffic signal poles and associated equipment, lane closures would be required around the junction.
The header image shows the lane configurations at the junction. The ahead and left movements on West Hill eastbound run in the same stage as the West Hill westbound ahead movement. In stage 2 West Hill westbound terminates, allowing the right turn (lane 2 on West Hill westbound) to turn unopposed.
During construction the right turn lane would need to be closed as this became a work area. The operation of the signals would then be changed as it’s not safe for the right turners to turn in gaps across two lanes of traffic. Queues from the waiting right turning vehicles would also block the westbound ahead movement.
The Solution
One solution was using portable signals. This would mean splitting the main road and running an allround pedestrian stage. In doing so, you have significantly reduced the traffic handling capacity, at all times of day, which is an issue.
An alternative approach would be to use portable signals while the lane closures are in place off peak and then resort back to all lanes during the peak periods and rest of the day, using Urban64. This maintains the junction’s capacity but requires two systems, increasing project costs and complexity.
A third solution would be to implement both staging arrangements on one system. This was the solution trialled at West Hill. The Urban64 controller was setup with two staging arrangements. During ‘normal’ operation (when there were no lane closures or construction) the junction ran in the same manner as the permanent signals. Outside of the peaks Telent were able to create their work areas by lane closures and the junction was manually changed in the controller. The ‘normal’ and ‘construction’ staging arrangements are shown below.
Customer feedback has been very positive. Providing a method of control for both ‘normal’ and ‘construction’ operation through one system, reduced costs and setup time. The traffic signals’ operation could be modified by a press of a button, rather than additional resource to install and remove portable signals each day.
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