Traffic Signal Management Plans

An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach 

for Improving the Design, Operations, and 

Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

November 2015

 

FHWA-HOP-15-038
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

NOTICE

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of 

Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no 

liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not 

constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The U.S. Government does not endorse 

products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only 

because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

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The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve 

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Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.

FHWA-HOP-15-038

2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No.

4. Title and Subtitle 

Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performancebased Approach for Improving the Design Operations and Maintenance 

of Traffic Signal Systems

5. Report Date

November 2015

6. Performing Organization 

Code

7. Authors

Kevin Fehon and Pam O’Brien (DKS)

8. Performing Organization 

Report No.

9. Performing Organization Name and Address

Leidos

11951 Freedom Drive

Reston, VA 20190

DKS Associates 

1970 Broadway, Suite 740

Oakland, CA 94612

10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

11. Contract or Grant No.

DTFH61-12-D-00050

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address

U.S. Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE.

Washington, DC 20590

13. Type of Report and Period 

Covered

Project Report, September 2013 –

November 2015

14. Sponsoring Agency Code

HOP

15. Supplementary Notes

Eddie Curtis, FHWA Office of Operations– Atlanta

Rick Denney, Paul Olson, FHWA National Resource Center

16. Abstract 

Traffic Signal Management Plan – Guidance Document is intended to provide planning guidance for 

professionals involved in the management, maintenance, design, and operations of traffic signal systems.

17. Key Words

traffic signals, traffic signal management plan, TSMP, 

signal planning, signal design, signal operations, 

signal management, signal maintenance 

18. Distribution Statement

No restrictions. 

19. Security Classif. (this report)

Unclassified

20. Security Classif. (this page)

Unclassified

21. No of Pages

84

22. Price

N/A

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of complete page authorized.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

SI* (MODERN METRIC) CONVERSION 

FACTORS APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS TO SI UNITS

SYMBOL WHEN YOU KNOW MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL

LENGTH

in inches 25.4 millimeters mm

ft feet 0.305 meters m

yd yards 0.914 meters m

mi miles 1.61 kilometers km

AREA

in2 square inches 645.2 square millimeters mm2

ft2 square feet 0.093 square meters m2

yd2 square yard 0.836 square meters m2

ac acres 0.405 hectares ha

mi2 square miles 2.59 square kilometers km2

VOLUME

fl oz fluid ounces 29.57 milliliters mL

gal gallons 3.785 liters L

ft3 cubic feet 0.028 cubic meters m3

yd3 cubic yards 0.765 cubic meters m3

NOTE: volumes greater than 1000 L shall be shown in m3

MASS

oz ounces 28.35 grams g

lb pounds 0.454 kilograms kg

T short tons (2000 lb) 0.907 megagrams (or "metric ton") Mg (or "t")

TEMPERATURE (exact degrees) o

F Fahrenheit 5 (F-32)/9 or (F-32)/1.8 Celsius oC

ILLUMINATION

fc foot-candles 10.76 lux lx

fl foot-Lamberts 3.426 candela/m2 cd/m2

FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS

lbf poundforce 4.45 newtons N

lbf/in2 poundforce per square inch 6.89 kilopascals kPa

APPROXIMATE CONVERSIONS FROM SI UNITS

SYMBOL WHEN YOU KNOW MULTIPLY BY TO FIND SYMBOL

LENGTH

mm millimeters 0.039 inches in

m meters 3.28 feet ft

m meters 1.09 yards yd

km kilometers 0.621 miles mi

AREA

mm2 square millimeters 0.0016 square inches in2

m2 square meters 10.764 square feet ft2

m2 square meters 1.195 square yards yd2

ha hectares 2.47 acres ac

km2 square kilometers 0.386 square miles mi2

VOLUME

mL milliliters 0.034 fluid ounces fl oz

L liters 0.264 gallons gal

m3 cubic meters 35.314 cubic feet ft3

m3 cubic meters 1.307 cubic yards yd3

MASS

g grams 0.035 ounces oz

kg kilograms 2.202 pounds lb

Mg (or "t") megagrams (or "metric ton") 1.103 short tons (2000 lb) T

TEMPERATURE (exact degrees)

o

C Celsius 1.8C+32 Fahrenheit oF

ILLUMINATION

lx lux 0.0929 foot-candles fc

cd/m2 candela/m2 0.2919 foot-Lamberts fl

FORCE and PRESSURE or STRESS

N newtons 0.225 poundforce lbf

kPa kilopascals 0.145 poundforce per square inch lbf/in2

*SI is the symbol for the International System of Units. Appropriate rounding should be made to comply with 

Section 4 of ASTM E380. 
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1. PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDEBOOK.................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1

Overview.................................................................................................................................. 1

Should You Invest Time in Developing a Traffic Signal Management Plan (TSMP)?........... 2

GOOD BASIC SERVICE AND PROGRAM RELIABILITY..................................................................... 3

THE OBJECTIVES-DRIVEN PROCESS.............................................................................................. 5

Goals ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Context ..................................................................................................................................... 6

Objectives................................................................................................................................. 7

Strategies.................................................................................................................................. 8

Tactics...................................................................................................................................... 9

Documentation ....................................................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER 2. OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE............................ 11

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN SELECTING MEASURES ..................................................................... 12

CHAPTER 3. HOW TO CREATE THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT PLAN.... 17

INVOLVE THE APPROPRIATE STAKEHOLDERS OR STAFF ............................................................. 17

SCALE AND SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT....................................................................................... 17

OBTAIN APPROPRIATE LEVELS OF APPROVAL............................................................................ 18

APPROACH.................................................................................................................................. 18

PROCESS ..................................................................................................................................... 21

Step 1 – Document Activities ................................................................................................ 22

Step 2a – Describe Related Strategies.................................................................................... 26

Step 2b – Develop Objectives................................................................................................ 27

Step 3a – Identify and Link to Agency Goals........................................................................ 27

Step 3b – Review Transportation Objectives......................................................................... 28

Step 4 – Consolidate Objectives for Traffic Signal Management.......................................... 31

Step 5 – Rationalize Strategies to Support Traffic Signal Management Plan Objectives ..... 32

Step 6 – Develop Evaluation Methods................................................................................... 34

Step 7 – Traffic Signal Management Plan Assembly ............................................................ 35

CHAPTER 4. OUTLINE FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT PLANS.................. 37

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................... 37

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ...................................................................... 37

CHAPTER 2 – GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 37
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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CHAPTER 3 – MAINTENANCE...................................................................................................... 39

CHAPTER 4 – OPERATIONS ......................................................................................................... 41

CHAPTER 5 – DESIGN.................................................................................................................. 43

CHAPTER 6 – MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION.................................................................. 46

CHAPTER 7 – INTERAGENCY COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION.......................................... 48

CHAPTER 8 – ACTION PLAN........................................................................................................ 49

APPENDIX. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT CASE STUDIES.................................. 51

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... 71

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 73
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Graphic. Would a traffic signal management plan be helpful for my agency? ................2

Figure 2. Graphic. Relationships among agency documents...........................................................3

Figure 3. Graphic. Good basic service components. .......................................................................4

Figure 4. Graphic. Notable interactions needed to achieve good basic service...............................5

Figure 5. Graphic. Goals, context, objectives, strategies, and tactics (GOST) pyramid. ................6

Figure 6. Diagram. Planner and operator approaches to traffic signal management planning.....19

Figure 7. Diagram. Planner vs. operator goals, context, objectives, strategies, and tactics (GOST) 

perspective...............................................................................................................................20

Figure 8. Diagram. Traffic signal management plan development flow chart. .............................22

Figure 9. Diagram. Traffic signal management plan context diagram. .........................................38

Figure 10. Diagram. High-level system concept diagram. ............................................................52

Figure 11. Map. Distribution of MAC address readers in Mesa, Arizona.....................................54

Figure 12. Map. Location of Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek. .............................................55

Figure 13. Chart. Illustration of demand variation on Ygnacio Valley Road................................56

Figure 14. Chart. Sample analysis using Bluetooth and traffic volume data.................................58

Figure 15. Graph. Sample BlueToadTM travel time report for Ygnacio Valley Road. ..................59

Figure 16. Diagram. Sample Purdue Coordination Diagram.........................................................61

Figure 17. Diagram. corridor arrival on green report. ...................................................................62

Figure 18. Graph. Using arrivals on green for optimization of offsets..........................................63

Figure 19. Graph. Termination monitor report. .............................................................................66

Figure 20. Graph. Split monitor report. .........................................................................................67

Figure 21. Graph. Phase termination by max-out at night.............................................................68

Figure 22. Graph. Split monitor helped identify problem. ......................................................69

Figure 23. Graph. Split Monitor Shows Problem Cleared.............................................................70
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Typical outcome performance measures. ........................................................................12

Table 2. Summary of performance measure case studies..............................................................14

Table 3. Output performance measures. ........................................................................................15

Table 4. Outcome performance measures......................................................................................15

Table 5. Example agency transportation goals. .............................................................................28

Table 6. Example agency transportation plan policies. .................................................................29

Table 7. Example traffic signal management objectives. ..............................................................31

Table 8. Example traceability between goals, objectives and strategies. ......................................33

Table 9. Performance measures used in traffic signal management plans. ...................................35

Table 10. Example proactive maintenance tactics.........................................................................39

Table 11. Example reactive maintenance tactics. ..........................................................................40

Table 12. Example administrative maintenance tactics.................................................................40

Table 13. Example maintenance implementation verification metrics..........................................41

Table 14. Example system efficiency tactics.................................................................................42

Table 15. Example signal coordination tactics. .............................................................................42

Table 16. Example multimodal safety and efficiency tactics. .......................................................42

Table 17. Example intersection efficiency tactics. ........................................................................42

Table 18. Example regional coordination and compatibility tactics..............................................43

Table 19. Example operations implementation verification metrics. ............................................43

Table 20. Example operations support tactics. ..............................................................................44

Table 21. Example maintenance support tactics............................................................................44

Table 22. Example multimodal accommodation tactics................................................................44

Table 23. Example regional coordination and compatibility tactics..............................................45

Table 24. Example design management tactics. ............................................................................45

Table 25. Example operations implementation verification metrics. ............................................46

Table 26. Example personnel tactics. ............................................................................................47

Table 27. Example interdepartmental coordination tactics............................................................47

Table 28. Example budgeting and programming tactics. ..............................................................47

Table 29. Example customer service tactics. .................................................................................48

Table 30. Example management and administration implementation verification metrics...........48

Table 31. Sample traffic signal management plan action plan. .....................................................50
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

vii

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has prepared this guidebook to assist 

transportation agencies across the country in better managing their traffic signal systems through 

systematic alignment of maintenance, design, and operations activities and resources. It provides 

step-by-step instructions for documenting current activities, relating them to the agency’s goals 

and transportation objectives, and offers a structure that shows how the activities of all staff 

involved in traffic signal management support those objectives.

Research has shown that in effective traffic signal programs there is a strong connection between 

doing what's most important in the context of limited resources and the extent to which a

department’s activities are planned ahead to achieve specific, objectives (FHWA, 2009). 

The idea for this guidebook grew out of the findings of the National Traffic Signal Report Card

(NTOC, 2012). One finding from the analysis of responses by agencies to this self-assessment of 

their traffic signal operation and management was that almost no agencies in the United States

have a formal traffic signal management plan (TSMP). The majority of agencies have master 

plans for pedestrians, bicycles, local specific plans, city-wide general plans, and regional and 

statewide transportation plans, while fewer have ITS master plans. These are almost entirely 

aimed at supporting capital improvement programs, and most are required by various Federal 

and State regulations. Surprisingly few have comprehensive plans of similar quality to guide 

maintenance, design, and operations of their traffic signal systems.

Based on FHWA’s broad experience with agencies across the country, it has become clear that 

agencies with some form of strategic plan that covers their traffic signal systems tend to have 

better organized operations and management of their traffic signal systems.

A well-organized traffic signal management plan will provide multiple benefits to an agency. It 

will also:

• Document what traffic signal maintenance, operations, and design staff do, why they do 

it, and how their activities support the agency’s goals and objectives.

• Provide a firm basis to support maintenance and operations as well as capital budgets.

• Facilitate succession planning and integration of new staff into the organization.

• Specify a logical framework within which staff training can be planned and organized.

• Help agencies become less dependent on key individuals, reduce ad hoc procedures and 

provide organization and structure for the agency’s activities.

Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

1

CHAPTER 1. PURPOSE OF THIS GUIDEBOOK

INTRODUCTION

Overview

Research has shown that in effective traffic signal programs there is a strong connection between

doing what's most important in the context of limited resources and the extent to which its 

activities are planned ahead to achieve specific objectives (FHWA, 2009). This research has 

shown that the extent to which an agency provides good service to its community is not 

necessarily directly related to the prevalence of resources. Some well-funded agencies are not 

high performers, while some agencies that are not well funded provide a high standard of service 

within their acknowledged constraints and in accordance with their plan. A common thread that 

exists amongst high performing agencies is a demonstrated ability to align and plan the design, 

operations, management and maintenance activities, and the ultimate replacement of traffic 

signals (NTOC, 2012).

This guidance establishes a framework for developing traffic signal management plans (TSMP) 

based on knowledge transferred from a number of archetypical traffic signal programs. A TSMP 

is intended to document and connect, at a high level, the goals, objectives, strategies and 

performance measures that an agency uses to achieve outcomes consistent with doing what’s 

most important given a limited set of resources. This guidance will help practitioners

strategically connect their activities related to traffic signal design, operations, maintenance, and 

management with the goals and objectives of their agency. The result will be an objectivesdriven TSMP that:

• Provides a succinct description of all activities required for agency staff to manage the 

traffic signal program.

• Offers a basis for introducing new staff to the processes relevant to their roles, both inside 

and outside the program or agency.

• Illustrates to management and outside funding agencies the structured approach to traffic 

signal management.

• Specifies an approach to strategically shift maintenance, operation, and design from 

reactionary to proactive and to effectively plan for needed capital improvements.

• Outlines an approach for identifying how to deliver good basic service (defined below).

• Helps to provide direction to a large and complex program (in the presence of plentiful 

resources).

• Identifies programmatic objectives supported by existing activities.

• Improves support for the traffic signal program both within and external to one’s agency.

• Aids in mitigating the risks of the program underperforming and not meeting one’s 

objectives.

• Supports succession planning.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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Should You Invest Time in Developing a Traffic Signal Management Plan (TSMP)?

Ask yourself the questions in Figure 1. If you answer yes to any of them, your agency is a 

candidate for a TSMP.

Source: DKS

Figure 1. Graphic. Would a traffic signal management plan be helpful for my agency?

It is clear from the results of the national traffic signal report card survey (NTOC, 2012) and 

other research that very few agencies have a comprehensive plan covering the full lifecycle of 

design, operations, management, maintenance and ultimate replacement of traffic signals. 

Moreover, those agencies that do have operating and management plans very often have not 

clearly linked their objectives to the livability and mobility goals and objectives of their agency

or regional planning authority. A strategic approach is needed in order to effectively garner 

support for and resources to improve the state of traffic signal systems.

Based on FHWA’s broad experience with agencies across the country, it has also become clear 

that agencies that have some form of strategic plan that covers their traffic signal system also 

have a high level of performance in the management of their traffic signal system. Moreover, this 

seems to apply regardless of the level of resources available for traffic signal management. Many

resource-rich agencies do not provide great service, while other relatively under-resourced 

agencies provide very good service within their constraints.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

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The TSMP connects the goals that appear in agency and regional plans with objectives and 

strategies that support day to day traffic signal design, operations maintenance, and 

administrative activities. The TSMP supports an agency’s general plan or strategic plan, in a 

manner similar to an ITS plan, pedestrian master plan or a bicycle master plan, and lays the 

foundation for development of traffic signal capital improvement plans. Many agencies have 

existing procedures and policies that feed into the information in the TSMP. Figure 2 shows the 

relationship between the different documents an agency may have. 

Source: DKS

Figure 2. Graphic. Relationships among agency documents.

GOOD BASIC SERVICE AND PROGRAM RELIABILITY

The mission of a traffic signal program is to provide good basic service that satisfies the goals of 

the agency and regional partners involved in transportation systems management and operations 

(TSM&O). Good basic service is defined as doing the most important things given a set of
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

4

resources. The definition of “important” is up to the agency to 

determine, but should match closely with user expectations. Traffic 

signal programs that do not align their objectives with agency and 

regional goals may encounter difficulty in attracting and sustaining 

resources to adequately design, operate and maintain traffic signal 

systems. Achieving good basic service requires implementation of 

strategies (operations, maintenance, and design) that work together to optimize the program, 

along with a clear understanding of their objectives. Figure 3 illustrates how the different aspects 

of managing a signal system all need to work together. If an agency is weak in one area, the stool 

will be unbalanced, meaning the other two areas need to compensate to remain balanced. For 

example, if detection is not maintained well, the signal will continue to operate, but the signal 

timing will need to be adjusted in order to serve the users. If an agency is not performing well in 

all three areas, the stool will collapse and good basic service will not be provided.

Source: FHWA

Figure 3. Graphic. Good basic service components.

Program reliability is a measure of an organization’s ability to sustain good basic service. 

Sustaining good basic service is dependent on:

• Articulating objectives clearly.

• Having expert, committed staff.

• Documenting processes.

• Optimizing process effectiveness.

• Applying systematic processes to inform hardware and software procurement.

• Having predictable resources (capital and operating funds).

• Measuring performance in a meaningful way.

The TSMP connects the activities related to traffic signal design, operations, maintenance, 

and management with the goals and objectives of your agency. This will guard against the 

impacts of losing key staff, reductions in critical funding, or both.

Good Basic Service is 

doing the most 

important things given 

a finite set of 

resources.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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Achieving good basic service will involve recognizing the interactions between the different 

actors, systems, and policies and procedures of your organization. Recognizing those 

interactions will help generate the appropriate mix of operational, maintenance, design and 

enabling strategies that agencies will need to keep the stool balanced. This concept is 

illustrated in Figure 4.

Source: FHWA

Figure 4. Graphic. Notable interactions needed to achieve good basic service.

THE OBJECTIVES-DRIVEN PROCESS

The TSMP is based on an objectives-driven, performance-based approach. This type of 

approach focuses on system performance to measure success rather than the number of 

activities implemented. The basis of this approach is the development of goals, context,

objectives, strategies, and tactics (G-COST). The relationships between goals, objectives, 

strategies, and tactics are illustrated in Figure 5.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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Source: FHWA

Figure 5. Graphic. Goals, context, objectives, strategies, and tactics (GOST) pyramid.

Goals

A goal is a broad statement that describes a desired end state. It is the “what” an agency is trying 

to achieve. Goals can address different aspects of the transportation system: reliability, 

efficiency, quality of service, preservation, etc. In many cases, the goal statements for a TSMP 

can be directly extracted from existing agency policy documents, such as a regional 

transportation system plan, related master plans such as bicycle and pedestrian master plans, and 

the transportation element of a city’s general plan or master plan.

Here are some examples of agency goals:

• Maintain the transportation system in the most efficient manner.

• Provide mobility for all ages and abilities and for all areas of the community.

• Facilitate efficient transit operation on arterial roads.

• Preserve infrastructure.

• Optimize mobility.

While goals describe a desirable end state, they are not directly “actionable.” That is the role of 

objectives.

Context

While a goal can lead to many different objectives that may apply to a variety of activities (e.g., 

“livability” may be supported by transportation, libraries, parks, urban design and architecture, 

sports facilities, and landscaping), the administrative context of the plan and the physical context

of the signal operation define the types of objectives that are appropriate in several ways:

• Only objectives that will lead to activities associated with the traffic signal system need 

to be considered.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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• The selected management objectives need to acknowledge the geographical, social, and 

institutional context within which the plan will operate.

• The operational objectives that define how the signal system controls traffic and other 

road users need to be consistent with traffic patterns, mobility demands, road network 

topology, and adjacent land uses.

Objectives

An objective is more specific and measurable and is defined as “what” needs to be done in order 

to achieve a goal. Although in transportation planning, developing such aims has often been 

discussed together with goals (e.g., “developing goals and objectives”), it is important to make a 

critical distinction between goals and objectives within a performance-based planning and 

programming approach. Whereas goals relate to the "big picture" or desired end-result, 

objectives should be specific and measurable and support the achievement of a goal. 

The most important aspect of identifying these overarching targets is that they be absolutely clear 

and “actionable.” All objectives should include or lead to development of a performance measure 

that is able to validate achievement of the result, and to support decisions necessary to help 

achieve each goal. The aims of the TSMP may relate to multiple strategies within the traffic 

signal program in the areas of maintenance, design, management and operations. 

Example TSMP objectives, extracted from some recent TSMPs include:

• Provide facilities at traffic signals to safely and efficiently accommodate all road users 

(including transit, pedestrians and bicycles in addition to other vehicles).

• Support signal operations that are appropriate for the current traffic conditions and 

consistent with current operational policies.

• Operate traffic signal system at its maximum efficiency within the context of a balanced, 

multimodal operation, as described in current operational policies.

• Undertake maintenance in a cost-effective manner.

• Coordinate cooperatively with neighbor agencies to develop and implement regional 

solutions to traffic problems related to regional issues.

• Design traffic signal system elements that are sustainable in a fiscally responsible 

manner.

• Preserve the traffic signal system so it always operates as intended.

• Sustain a traffic signal infrastructure that is appropriate for accommodating current 

mobility goals.

• Inform and educate all stakeholders of the challenge to maintain a modal balance and 

superior service. 

• Keep the community fully informed about the development and operation of the traffic 

signal system so they understand what we do and why we do what we do, so they can 

judge for themselves how well we are satisfying their needs.

• Increase traffic flows.

• Improve capacity allocation.

• Advance pedestrian service.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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• Enhance bicycle service.

• Create a high level of reliability of detection.

• Maintain fully functional preemption.

• Minimize pollution and noise.

• Retain a complete history of traffic volumes for use in planning, design and operations 

analysis.

• Develop origin-destination data.

• Further safety-related objectives.

• Reduce time to return intersection to full operation after incident or fault.

It is also important to clearly state the operational strategies one intends to employ in various 

situations, such as:

• Smooth the flow of traffic along coordinated routes when the system is below saturation.

• Maximize the throughput of vehicles along coordinated routes when conditions are at or 

above saturation.

• Equitably serve adjacent land uses when throughput is not the objective.

• Manage queues to prevent excessive queuing from reducing efficiency.

• Maximize intersection efficiency at critical isolated (non-coordinated) intersections.

Strategies

A strategy is defined as a capability put in place to achieve an objective. This is where you have 

the opportunity to be innovative, and also identify strategies that are achievable and sustained 

within your agency’s existing level of capability. Example strategies found in some recent 

TSMPs include:

• Undertake proactive maintenance.

• Undertake reactive maintenance.

• Administer maintenance to provide all required capabilities.

• Design signals to support maintenance.

• Design signals to support operations.

• Design signals to accommodate all modes.

• Operate signals to maximize system efficiency.

• Provide signal coordination where suitable.

• Operate signals to safely and efficiently accommodate all users.

• Operate signals to optimize intersection efficiency.

• Operate signals in coordination with regional partners.

• Automate traffic counts.

Each of these strategies has a different effect on one or more of the following:

• Quantity and allocation of resources.

• Documentation of processes.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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• Capability of staff.

• Systems and technology.

• Procurement processes.

• Performance measurement.

• Leadership.

• Collaboration, both internal and external.

Tactics

A tactic is the specific method to implement a strategy. It is an action taken (activities) or tool 

used to help implement the strategies in order to achieve objectives and attain goals.

For example, in response to the objective of maintaining a high level of reliability in detection, 

these may be some appropriate strategies:

• Provide proactive maintenance, to minimize the risk of detector failure.

• Provide reactive maintenance, to quickly repair failed detectors.

• Design signals with types of detectors that are less prone to damage.

• Design signals with fewer detectors to reduce the total number of failures.

To implement these strategies, several entirely different tactics could be considered, which may 

include the following:

• Strengthen the pavement when loops are installed to minimize the risk of loop failure due 

to pavement deterioration.

• Use loops protected by conduit and buried deeper than regular, saw-cut loops.

• Use alternative technologies to inductive loops that are not affected by pavement 

condition.

• Limit the use of detectors to left turn phases.

• Provide equipment and training so staff can quickly repair failed loops.

• Retain an on-call contractor capable of quickly repairing failed loops.

Each selected tactic has a different effect on one or more of the following and needs to be 

considered and either accepted or discarded:

• The quantity and allocation of maintenance resources.

• The efficiency of traffic signal operation.

• The level of service provided to the road users.

• The cost of installation of traffic signals.

• The accuracy of vehicle detection.

It may be that each of these tactics will be applicable for an agency to use in one or other 

situations. For example, if an agency has a preference for standardization (often driven by a 

belief that maintenance will be more efficient if there is less variation in equipment and 

procedures), the real and perceived benefits of that standardization should be first weighed 
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

10

against foregone opportunities that would result from not picking the tactic that would most 

effectively address each situation.

Documentation

At the end of the day, all your activities need to be documented so all relevant staff know exactly 

what they should do and when they should do it. Documenting activities encourages close 

examination of changes to procedures, ensuring changes represent improvements when they do 

occur. Ad hoc activities should eventually be formalized and documented, so for the purposes of 

the TSMP they should be included in an action plan to ensure they are enshrined in your 

agency’s procedures, are consistently implemented, and will not be lost or abandoned as key 

staff change. 
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic Signal Systems

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CHAPTER 2. OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE

Meaningful performance measurement is a key tenet of achieving good basic service and is 

imperative to evaluating the achievement of objectives, the appropriateness of strategies, and

enables the optimization of tactics. Performance measures link objectives, strategies, and tactics 

and are central to implementing performance-based planning and management processes. See 

FHWA’s extensive resources for its Operations Performance Measurement Program at:

http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/perf_measurement

How you define and measure performance will significantly affect the types of strategies and 

tactics implemented and capital projects advanced to achieve them. Moreover, performance 

results inform agencies if the types of projects and strategies that have been implemented are, in 

fact, helping them achieve their goals and objectives.1

The National Performance Review (cited in FHWA, 2015) provides the following definition of 

performance measurement:

A process of assessing progress toward achieving predetermined goals, including 

information on the efficiency with which resources are transformed into goods 

and services (outputs), the quality of those outputs (how well they are delivered to 

clients and the extent to which clients are satisfied) and outcomes (the results of a 

program activity compared to its intended purpose), and the effectiveness of 

government operations in terms of their specific contributions to program 

objectives.

Output may measure the appropriateness of a strategy or the effectiveness of an activity, and is 

of direct interest to the agency. Outcome may measure the quality of an activity, and is of 

primary interest to the customer. Both may help to decide on resource needs, and the need for 

improvement in systems and technology via capital investments.

Examples of measures of effectiveness that describe outcomes are included in Table 1.

 

1 This document uses the following definitions for measure and metric; a measure quantifies actual performance 

(e.g., average speed is X mph), while a metric assesses the quality of performance (e.g., average speed is Y% of the 

uncongested free flow speed). See, for example, CIO.gov, 2015.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

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Table 1. Typical outcome performance measures.

Operational 

Objective Strategy Measure

Smooth flow Provide pipeline Percent arrivals on green

Throughput Provide pipeline Volume passing a critical points

Equitable access to 

adjacent land uses

Equitably distribute green time Delay on all movements;

Number of phase failures for each 

movement

Equitable access to 

adjacent land uses

Operate signals to optimize 

intersection efficiency

Percentage of “max outs” on each 

phase

Queue 

management

Prevent queue overflow Queue lengths at locations where 

queue length is critical

ROLES OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES 

Performance measures serve five critical purposes within traffic signal management – they are 

used as follows: 

• To clarify the definition of objectives – Metrics assist in conversion of broad goals into 

measurable objectives. 

• To monitor or track performance over time – Metrics are used to track performance on a 

regular or on-going basis (e.g., yearly, monthly, continual). 

• As a reference for target setting – Metrics are used as the basis for selecting a target that is 

intended to be achieved. 

• As a basis for supporting policy and investment decisions by comparing alternative options –

Metrics are used as a basis for comparing alternative investments or policies in order to make 

decisions. 

• To assess the effectiveness of projects and strategies – Metrics are what enable measurement 

to assess whether projects and strategies have worked to further goals. 

Two well-known challenges associated with defining performance measures are difficulties 

associated with data availability and difficulties in developing quantitative measures for goals 

such as economic vitality and livability. That is why performance measures identified for a 

TSMP should concentrate on objectives and strategies. See, for example, Gettman, et al. (2013) 

and Bullock, et al. (2014).

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN SELECTING MEASURES 

Selecting performance measures requires considering what specific metric will be used and how 

measurements will be taken. For more detailed discussion of performance measures, see the 

FHWA performance measurement website (FHWA, 2015), and discussion in Day, et al. (2014), 

Bullock, et al. (2014) and Gettman, et al. (2013). The operational performance objectives are 
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

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selected within the context of location, traffic congestion, etc. In selecting a performance 

measure, several factors should be considered: 

• Does it represent a key concern? The selected performance measure should play a role 

in decision-making within planning and management and relate clearly to goals 

established in a performance-based planning process. The selected measure will have 

important implications on strategies that are selected. 

• Is it clear? Is the measure understandable to managers, policy makers, and the public? 

Avoid technical terms if not necessary. 

• Are data available? Consider the feasibility and practicality to collect, store, and analyze 

data and report performance information for the selected measures. While data 

availability is important, it is important to also remember to not simply define the 

measure based on what data are readily available. 

• Is the measure something the agency and its investments can influence? A good 

measure does not need to be something that an agency controls. However, it will be 

important to select measures that can be influenced through policy and investment 

decisions in order for the measure to be useful in supporting investment decisionmaking.

• Is the measure meaningful for the types of services or area? While consistency in 

metrics can be valuable, it is also important to make sure that a measure is meaningful to 

the area or system to which it is applied. Care must be taken to keep the focus on 

customers (such as on people rather than facilities and vehicles) to avoid unintended 

consequences. 

• Improvement direction is clear. In some cases, agencies choose measures but do not 

state clearly whether they desire the measure to increase or decrease, which is particularly 

problematic when the measure could be interpreted differently depending on one’s 

perspective.

There often can be value in using multiple measures to address multiple dimensions of a 

problem. At the same time, it is advisable to start with a limited number of measures since it can 

be overwhelming to address hundreds of different measures. Experience suggests the importance 

of keeping the measures simple. It has been noted in many places: “Measure what is important; 

do not measure everything.” Avoid measures that may provide useful information but may not be 

key considerations in relation to identified goals, making an agency “data rich but information 

poor.” 

Appendix A. A contains four case studies, each of which shows very effective use of one 

measure of performance to assess how well a traffic signal management objective (or strategy) is 

being met. The four cases described are summarized inTable 2.
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Table 2. Summary of performance measure case studies.

Objective or Strategy

Performance 

Measure

Data Collection 

Method Agency

Provide smooth flow on 

arterial

Percentage arrivals on 

green in corridor

Automatic high 

resolution data and 

Purdue Coordination 

Diagram

Utah 

Department of 

Transportation

Maintain stable travel 

times over time

End-to-end travel time 

on specified corridors

Annual floating car 

surveys

Automatic using 

Bluetooth readers

City of Mesa

Provide travel time 

commensurate with level 

of demand

Corridor segment 

travel time

Automatic using 

Bluetooth readers

City of 

Walnut Creek

Maintain signals in good 

state of repair and 

operating in a manner for 

which they were designed 

(Strategy: proactively 

maintain detection

reliability)

Signal timing 

complaints

Automated high 

performance 

controller data 

analysis and reporting

Utah 

Department of 

Transportation

There are several different layers of performance measures, each of which are essential to 

effective management of a traffic signal system. At the decision-maker level, measurement of the 

effect of traffic signal operation on the various road users will quantify how well the objectives 

are being met (measuring the outcomes). These measures will all be directly observable by the 

users, such as trip times, fuel consumption, air quality and quality of service measures.

At the strategic and tactical levels, it is the signal manager’s responsibility to measure the 

implementation of activities against established standards, to ensure they are being done 

effectively and efficiently. These measures generally relate directly to the performance of staff

(outputs). Examples of measurements of the performance of a strategy of providing proactive 

maintenance are shown in 

Table 3. Examples of measures that quantify the outcome of the implementation of the same 

strategy are shown in Table 4.
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Table 3. Output performance measures.

Objective Strategy Tactic Measure

Maintain the traffic 

signal system so it 

always operates as 

intended

Undertake 

proactive 

maintenance

Test pedestrian 

detectors

Number of detectors tested

Number of failed detectors 

reported

Clean and 

realign signal 

heads and 

lenses

Number of heads cleaned

Number of heads requiring 

realignment

Table 4. Outcome performance measures.

Objective Strategy Measure

Maintain the traffic 

signal system so it 

always operates as 

intended

Undertake proactive 

maintenance

Number of emergency maintenance 

callouts per unit (e.g., per signal, per 

month)

Number of reported malfunctions per 

unit

Undertake maintenance 

in a cost-effective 

manner

Undertake proactive 

maintenance

Ratio of emergency maintenance to total 

maintenance expenditure

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CHAPTER 3. HOW TO CREATE THE TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT PLAN

INVOLVE THE APPROPRIATE STAKEHOLDERS OR STAFF

The most appropriate staff to have input to the development of a traffic signal management plan 

(TSMP) will vary depending on the size of the organization and the manner in which its 

activities are structured. Typically staff with responsibility for the design, operations, or 

maintenance of the traffic signal system will be involved in developing the TSMP. This may 

include the following:

• Agency traffic engineer.

• Traffic operations engineer.

• TMC manager.

• Traffic signal timing supervisor.

• Lead technician.

• Maintenance supervisor.

• Signal designers.

• Transportation planners.

The champion of the TSMP should be the senior person responsible for successful operation of 

the traffic signal system. This person has an interest in the performance of the traffic system as it 

is impacted by traffic signal timing, an interest in the standard of maintenance, and an interest in 

good signal design, modification or replacement at an appropriate time.

The champion within the agency may be supported by internal staff and/or by a qualified 

consultant with experience in strategic planning, operations, maintenance and/or systems 

engineering in order to develop the document.

SCALE AND SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT

Deciding on the appropriate scale of the activity and scope of the document will depend on its 

intended use and on the current state of your signal program. Research suggests that in the 

majority of agencies, operations capability tends to be immature (largely relying on individuals 

using ad hoc procedures to time signals), while design and maintenance tend to be more 

advanced (with more formalized procedures and checklists). Overall the design, operation, and 

maintenance activities often occur in silos, with the result that needs, resources, and capabilities

often do not align satisfactorily. An agency with many ad hoc processes might initially use the 

TSMP to develop, or identify the need for, documented processes.

If an agency currently operates on a largely ad hoc basis that is intended to initially concentrate 

on formalizing the planning, execution, and performance measurement of maintenance activities, 

the initial plan can be relatively small. However, if an agency is well organized and the purpose 

of the plan is largely to formalize current practices and to facilitate and provide a training and 

succession plan that will continue successful operation beyond the tenure of existing staff, then it 

is likely that all sections will be required. For succession planning in an agency with well 

documented processes, the TSMP might document connections of regional and agency goals to 

traffic signal program objectives.
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Within a State agency, it may be appropriate to have a statewide TSMP, or a separate one for 

each district. In a smaller agency in which signal timing is handled by the maintenance 

organization, then the senior technician may be the most appropriate “owner” of the TSMP.

Based on experience with several test groups, development of the TSMP typically requires one 

or two half-day meetings to develop a consensus on the issues, goals, and objectives, followed by 

several months of activity by a staff member(s) and/or consultant. These case studies have also 

shown that an agency should set its expectations for the TSMP at a realistic level that initially 

represents an improvement over its current situation, and not try to develop a fully 

comprehensive TSMP at the outset. The starting point should begin at the existing level of 

capability, so that plans and processes move gradually from ad hoc to documented, documented 

to measured, and measured to optimized.

Support is also available from FHWA’s Resource Center. Staff can provide resource materials, 

such as an annotated outline for a TSMP, can review draft TSMP’s and provide content advice, 

and may also be able to facilitate training workshops for groups that are sufficiently large. Useful 

materials may also be found on FHWA’s website at:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/operations/

OBTAIN APPROPRIATE LEVELS OF APPROVAL 

A TSMP should be approved and/or endorsed by the chief executive of an agency. This ensures 

the support of decision-makers and budget approvers for the activities covered by the TSMP. It 

also ensures that those activities will be consistent with the plans and programs of other units of 

the agency.

APPROACH

There are two different but completely acceptable approaches to developing a TSMP, illustrated 

in Figure 6. The classic planner approach is top down, which involves progressively developing 

the GOST statements, starting with goals, which are informed by the agency’s vision and policy,

and working down to tactics. Within agencies that do not have well-documented processes, it is 

likely that a top-down approach will be necessary to formulate objectives, strategies and tactics 

that are consistent with agency goals. The second approach, often more understandable to traffic 

signal operators, is bottom up. It involves describing the strategies and day-to-day tactics that are

used and then describing in turn the objectives that are being achieved by using those tactics and 

mapping them to the agency goals that are satisfied by those objectives.
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Source: DKS

Figure 6. Diagram. Planner and operator approaches to traffic signal management 

planning.

Often, the most difficult part of the process is to elicit objectives that are stated in a way that is 

meaningful to traffic signal management, yet clearly consistent with the agency’s overall goals 

and transportation objectives. You must be careful to avoid stating objectives for which the 

performance measures are not associated with traffic signal management or operation.

For example, an agency’s objective related to bicycle safety and mobility may be to “...provide 

safe and efficient bicycle facilities to and from all major activity generators.” However, this 

could be addressed through many avenues that do not specifically involve traffic signals, such as 

bike paths, exclusive bike lanes on arterials or parallel roads, shared facilities away from 

arterials, as well as specific treatments for bicycles at traffic signals. A more focused objective 

suitable for traffic signal management could be to “...safely and efficiently accommodate all 

bicycles at all traffic signals.” This could lead to specific strategies to be applied at traffic signals 

(such as detecting bicycles and providing appropriate safety timing when bikes are present) and 

specific metrics that will determine the extent to which that specific objective is being met 

through traffic signal management.

Both approaches may be necessary for the assembly of a TSMP. It is easiest for practitioners to 

start from the bottom by documenting the day-to-day activities (tactics) and work up to the 

strategies and objectives. It helps to put context around what an agency does. Then go to the top 

and find the goals and objectives of the agency and work down to the strategies. 

The hardest part of this process tends to be developing clear and concise objectives that are 

actionable and measurable. An agency’s planning documents often have statements about vision, 

goals, objectives, guiding principles and policies that begin at a lofty level and the action plans 

developed in those documents often sound like statements of objectives to traffic signal 

operators. An agency should expect that the objectives it creates based on current strategies and 

activities will likely not match the level of the objectives statements often found in planning 
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documents, as illustrated in Figure 7.

Source: DKS

Figure 7. Diagram. Planner vs. operator goals, context, objectives, strategies, and tactics 

(GOST) perspective.

At some point the objectives will be consolidated into those relevant to the traffic signal system 

and then the strategies need to be reviewed. Working both from the bottom up and the top down 

helps to identify if there are any holes in the strategies and tactics. You will able to identify if 
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

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there are goals not being supported by strategies or if there are activities that don’t support the 

goals and objectives, as illustrated in Figure 7.

The following steps provide an outline of the process that may be used to create and adopt a 

TSMP. The actual process you use should be tailored to suit the size of your organization, the 

extent to which other agencies will participate in the development process and eventual 

implementation of the plan, and the key people who are championing the plan. A very important 

early step is to set out the proposed process and have as many stakeholders as possible commit to 

following the process before you embark on it.

PROCESS

The intent of the TSMP is to align the activities that are being done to operate and maintain the 

traffic signal system with objectives and the overarching goals of your agency. As shown in 

Figure 7, instead of starting with the goals and objectives and working down to the strategies and 

tactics, the process begins by documenting the activities currently performed by the traffic signal 

staff (step 1) in each area of the traffic signal program (maintenance, design, operations and 

management and administration. These activities represent tactics, and it is often easiest to begin 

by documenting maintenance activities, followed by design and then operations, management,

and administration. The process then work its way up to strategies by requiring planners first to 

ask themselves why each activity is performed (step 2a), then to create an initial set of objectives 

that could be supported by those strategies. Rather than developing goals at this point, these will 

be extracted from existing sources (step 3a and 3b). 

The initial strategies will be revised (step 5) and expressed in a way that clearly supports the 

objectives. This may also involve revising the tactics to add new tactics to fill apparent gaps or 

removing tactics that (while perhaps being of some use) are not necessarily supporting any 

defined strategy. Some iteration may be necessary between steps 2, 4 and 5. In step 6, evaluation 

methods and strategies will be selected, and the full TSMP will then be compiled (step 7).

Figure 8 depicts a flow chart of the process. As can be seen, the operator approach and planner

approach run parallel to each other.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design,

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Source: DKS

Figure 8. Diagram. Traffic signal management plan development flow chart.

Step 1 – Document Activities

Step 1 starts with the operator in mind and begins with the tactics. Write down the activities that 

staff currently do related to the maintenance, design or operation of the traffic signal system. The 

list of activities should include any activity performed on some recurring basis. An activity could 

occur annually, be a daily function, or be something that is only done when a specific event or 

situation occurs. This list will result in your system strategies and tactics. Use this as the basis for 

a brainstorming session in order to identify all activities. It is also critical to list activities that are 

contracted out. This list can also include a reference to existing policy documents and procedures 

you follow (maintenance checklist, signal timings guidelines, etc.), instead of repeating the 

detailed tasks within each procedure.
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It may be helpful to group the activities into three groups: maintenance, operations, and design. 

By doing this, the staff involved in each of the categories can provide input on their specialty. 

There may be overlap between the different groups—this is okay. The duplications will be 

condensed later. The list will most likely contain a mixture of strategies and tactics—this is okay 

also. Tactics are “what” you do and strategies are “how” you do it, and at times it is difficult to 

draw the line between them. 

The following questions are meant to help you document your activities, by organizing them 

around the typical categories associated with traffic signal system management. The questions 

are not all encompassing and your agency may do things not listed here. You can also review job 

descriptions for your staff to ensure all activities are captured.

Traffic Signal Maintenance

Preventive Maintenance

• Do you perform preventive maintenance of traffic signal hardware? What is included in 

maintenance list?

• How do you keep track of the condition of signal equipment?

• Do you provide locate services for underground conduit/wire associated with signal system?

• Do you maintain other agency’s signal hardware? Do they have preventive maintenance 

guidelines different than yours?

Routine Maintenance

• How do you know when a detector is not working? (citizen call, central system alarm, 

routine maintenance).

• Do you maintain log of maintenance issues?

• How do you verify communications is operating as it should?

• What do you do in case of damaged vehicle detectors? (adjust timing, coordinate with signal 

operator, fix loop)

Emergency Maintenance

• What are your emergency maintenance procedures?

• What do you do in case of traffic signal power outage? (stop signs, generator)

Operations

System Efficiency

• How do you keep track of the signal timings/phasing at each intersection?

• When do timings need to be updated? (What are the triggers? Time, land use developments, 

etc.)

• Are you measuring performance? What kind?

• Who updates the signal timing? Agency staff or consultant staff?
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• How do you monitor the signal operations? (Remote or in field)

• How do you quantify success?

• Do you modify signal operations during construction?

Intersection Efficiency

• How do you determine (calculate) local signal timings? Do you have a standard? Do you 

review timing routinely?

o Minimum green, Maximum green

o Walk, Flashing Don’t Walk

o Yellow, Red

o Detector settings

• Do you review split logs for phase failures? What do you do about it?

Coordination

• What are your intended outcomes from signal timing? For example, to maximize throughput 

during peak hours, provide smooth flow during business hours, equitably distribute green 

time during off-peak times?

• How do you decide when to coordinate signals? (What factors do you consider?)

• How do you develop coordinated timings? Do you have documented policy or guidelines for 

selecting the following or other parameters?

o Cycle length

o Split

o Offset

o Advanced features

• How do you determine coordination timing patterns?

• What software program do you use to develop coordinated timings?

• Do you use the results of software analysis directly, or modify the software results to 

accommodate your objectives that are not adequately reflected in the software models?

• What do you do when traffic conditions are oversaturated, heavy or light? (briefly discuss 

general operations strategies in each case)

• Do you program special event timings?

• How do you prevent or accommodate queue overflow through use of signal timings?

• How do you coordinate during congestion?

• How do you accommodate various land uses in your coordination timings?

• Do you use a different philosophy to time signals on a corridor with transit?

• Do you time signals differently in a heavy pedestrian environment?
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Multimodal safety and efficiency

• How do you time signals to accommodate pedestrians?

• How do you time signals to accommodate bikes?

• How do you time signals to accommodate transit (buses or Light Rail Transit)?

• How do you time signals to accommodate emergency vehicles?

• How do you time signals to accommodate freight (trucks)?

• How do you time signals to accommodate heavy rail?

Regional collaboration

• Do you coordinate signals with those of another agency?

Design

Miscellaneous

• Who designs new or modified traffic signal designs? (agency staff, consultant)

• Who reviews traffic signal design submittals?

• Do you have design standards or guidelines?

• What type of vehicle detection do you use? (inductive, video, radar) – does it depend on 

context? Why do you use X type of detection?

• What kind of communications infrastructure do you design/maintain?

• Do you share communications infrastructure with other agencies?

Operations Support

• What elements of design do you use specifically to support the operations you need? For 

example, where do you locate detection zones; do you use EV preemption; do you have 

transit signal priority (TSP); what communications bandwidth do you need?

Maintenance Support

• What elements of design do you use specifically to support the maintenance? For example, 

do you have standard specifications for equipment, such as controller, cabinet, detectors, 

communications equipment, cables or separate conductors, external finish such as paint or 

galvanized steel?

Multimodal Support

• What elements of design do you use specifically to support multimodal operations?

• How do you design to accommodate pedestrians at traffic signals?

• How do you design to accommodate bikes at traffic signals?

• How do you design to accommodate transit (buses or Light Rail Transit) at traffic signals?

• How do you design to accommodate emergency vehicles at traffic signals?
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• How do you design to accommodate freight (trucks) at traffic signals?

• How do you design to accommodate heavy rail at traffic signals?

Management and Administration

Personnel

• What type of training does staff receive?

• How do you retain staff?

Coordination

• Do you coordinate/communicate with adjacent agencies? If so, who does this?

Budgeting and programming

• Do you have on-going signal maintenance and operations specifically identified in your 

annual budget?

• Does your CIP or RTIP include replacement of signal equipment based on the estimate life 

cycle of each element?

Customer service

• Who responds to citizen calls?

• Who responds to Mayor’s/Director’s/ Manager’s requests?

• Do you provide outreach to media, stakeholders on signal operations?

Step 2a – Describe Related Strategies

Based on the items listed in Step 1, think of the reasons why the 

agency conducts these particular activities. The answer will 

typically give you the strategy you are implementing through 

this activity. For example:

What do you do?

Tactic: Modify signal timing temporarily to compensate 

for equipment failures (e.g., stuck detector)

Why do this?

Strategy: Respond to citizen complaints

Strategy: Minimize impact of failures on traffic 

operations
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Step 2b – Develop Objectives

For each strategy described in Step 2B pose the question: what are 

we trying to achieve by implementing that strategy? This will 

identify the objectives that you have for all the activities you 

undertake. For example:

What do you do?

Tactic: Modify signal timing (stuck detector)

Why do this?

Strategy: Respond to citizen complaint

What are you achieving?

Objective: Maintain operational efficiency of signal system or 

ensure that traffic signals provide equitable service to all users.

Step 3a – Identify and Link to Agency Goals

Step 3 starts with the planner in mind by reviewing your agency’s 

planning documents as shown in step 3a. Identify the goals listed 

in a transportation system plan, transportation chapter of a comprehensive plan, area plan, 

congestion management plan, etc. Goals from the transportation 

system plan or the goals of the transportation division of an 

agency work well since they directly relate to the transportation 

system. Goals from an agency general plan (for example) tend to 

be broader or high level and relate more to the overall function of 

the agency. It may be more challenging to pull out transportation 

related goals. If your agency doesn’t have documented goals 

from planning documents, then you will need to develop your 

own goals for the signal system.

Transportation goals extracted from the City of Walnut Creek 

General Plan 2025 (Walnut Creek, 2006) are listed in Table 5. 

Each of the transportation goals is reviewed to determine whether 

or not it is relevant to traffic signal management. Those that are 

relevant are then carried forward, along with any related 

objectives that are documented.
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Table 5. Example agency transportation goals.

Description of Agency Transportation Goal

Relevant to 

Traffic Signal 

Management?

Minimize future increases in congestion on regional transportation facilities Yes

Expand and improve regional trail facilities. No

Maintain a transportation network that provides mobility for all ages and 

abilities and for all areas of the community.

Yes

Protect residential neighborhoods from through-traffic, speeding, and 

nonresidential parking.

Yes

Provide a safe and attractive environment for bicycle travel throughout the 

community.

Yes

Provide a safe and attractive walking environment accessible to all. Yes

Increase transit ridership and service to employment, schools, shopping, 

and recreation.

Yes

Serve as a model for other cities by providing a comprehensive TDM 

program that strives to decrease the use of the automobile and reduce peakperiod traffic congestion.

No

Promote a pedestrian friendly downtown. Yes

Promote safe bicycling to and through downtown. Yes

Develop a comprehensive shuttle system serving downtown residents, 

shoppers, day and overnight visitors, and employees.

Yes

Provide convenient and adequate parking. No

Provide convenient and adequate loading facilities in the Core Area. No

Source: City of Walnut Creek

Step 3b – Review Transportation Objectives

Some agencies adopt guiding principles or policies to explain the context 

within which their objectives are framed. In one agency’s General Plan, 

numerous policies were described, intended to support each goal, and at 

the same time providing a mixture of objectives and contextual 

guidance. Each of these can then be assessed to determine whether or not 

they are relevant to traffic signal management.

The transportation policies established in the example General Plan, and 

an assessment of their relevance to traffic signal management, are 

contained in Table 6. These can be used to guide the description of 

traffic signal management objective in the next step.

Some agencies have adopted objectives for the different departments 

(including public works, engineering, transportation, etc.). If this is the 

case, review and compile the Objectives that relate to the traffic signal 

system. If your agency doesn’t have documented objectives from 

planning documents, then you will need to develop your own objectives 

for the signal system.
Traffic Signal Management Plans – An Objectives- and Performance-based Approach for Improving the Design, Operations, and Maintenance of Traffic 

Signal Systems

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Table 6. Example agency transportation plan policies.

Policy Description of Guiding Policies

Relevant to 

Traffic Signal 

Management?

Goal 1:Minimize future increases in congestion on regional transportation facilities

1.1. In cooperation with State and regional agencies and other jurisdictions, develop and implement regional 

solutions to local traffic problems created by growth outside the city.

Yes

1.2. Support efforts to obtain funding for improvements to Highway 4 and other roads that provide a bypass for 

traffic passing through Walnut Creek.

No

1.3. Promote off-peak start times for special events that generate traffic passing through Walnut Creek. No

Goal 3: Maintain a transportation network that provides mobility for all ages and abilities and for all 

areas of the community.

3.1. Maintain the level of service standards for designated roadways within the City’s transportation network. Yes

3.2. Make safety, circulation, and congestion-reduction improvements without excessive community disruption. Yes

3.3. Promote maximum operational capacity and efficiency on arterials and collectors. Yes

Goal 4: Protect residential neighborhoods from through-traffic, speeding, and nonresidential parking.

4.1. Manage arterial and collector traffic to minimize adverse effects on neighborhoods. Yes

4.2. Discourage through-traffic on local streets and collectors. Yes

4.3. Prevent encroachment of nonresidential parking in existing neighborhoods. No

Goal 5: Provide a safe and attractive environment for bicycle travel throughout the community.

5.1. Promote bicycle use as an alternative way to get to work, school, shopping, recreational facilities, and transit 

stops.

No

5.2. Provide facilities that encourage and support bicycle travel. Yes

5.3. Oppose the use of motorized transportation (trains, buses, autos, motorcycles) on the Iron Horse Corridor 

between the Pleasant Hill BART Station and Newell Avenue.

No
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Table 6. Example agency transportation plan policies (cont’d).

Policy Description of Guiding Policies

Relevant to 

Traffic Signal 

Management?

Goal 6: Provide a safe and attractive walking environment accessible to all.

6.1. Provide safe and attractive pedestrian routes along arterials and collectors leading to schools, along arterials 

or collectors that carry high traffic volumes, on all downtown streets, along major streets leading to the 

downtown, and on all streets leading to transit facilities.

Yes

6.2. Require full-frontage curb and sidewalk improvements in all commercial areas. No

6.3. When utility rights-of-way, drainage, or other corridors are established, obtain dedications of land or 

easements, where appropriate, for paths that would enhance the pedestrian system.

No

6.4. Facilitate use of public sidewalks and walkways throughout the city. Yes

Goal 7: Increase transit ridership and service to employment, schools, shopping, and recreation.

7.1 Encourage coordination among transit agencies in facilitating connections and transfers while minimizing 

delay and inconvenience.

Yes

7.2. Encourage improvements to transit systems that connect Walnut Creek residents to regional locations. Yes

7.3. Link high-density residential developments, schools, employment centers, and shopping areas via transit. No

7.4. Offer support and funding for effective transit alternatives such as trolleys and improved shuttle services. No

7.5. Develop a comprehensive plan with CCCTA to install public transit amenities such as benches, passenger 

shelters, and walkways.

No

7.6. Encourage provision of a variety of transportation services for seniors and members of the public unable to 

use conventional transit.

No

Goal 9: Promote a pedestrian friendly downtown.

9.1. Balance the needs of drivers with downtown’s pedestrian scale and existing and proposed transit and bicycle 

access.

Yes

9.2. Favor pedestrian travel over vehicular travel in the Pedestrian Retail District. Yes

9.3. Promote pedestrian safety in the downtown area. Yes

Goal 10: Promote safe bicycling to and through downtown.

10.1. Link existing and planned bikeways in and through downtown. Yes

Source: City of Walnut Creek
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Step 4 – Consolidate Objectives for Traffic Signal Management

Combine, review, and distill the Objectives developed in Step 

2 and the Objectives from Step 3b. Now that you have 

described objectives that could be supported by your strategies, 

you should modify them and define them in a manner that is 

consistent with the transportation objectives identified in 

Step 3. These should be expressed in terms that would work 

for both the operator and the planner. Example TSMP 

objectives that have been derived using this process are 

contained in Table 7. For example, the TSMP objective of 

“operate traffic signal system at its maximum efficiency within

the context of a balanced, multimodal operation, as described 

in current operational policies” was established to 

accommodate several of the agency’s transportation objectives, 

namely:

• Maintain the level of service standards for designated 

roadways within the City’s transportation network.

• Promote maximum operational capacity and efficiency 

on arterials and collectors.

• Manage arterial and collector traffic to minimize adverse effects on neighborhoods.

Table 7. Example traffic signal management objectives.

Description

1 Provide facilities at traffic signals to safely and efficiently accommodate all road users (including 

transit, pedestrians and bicycles in addition to other vehicles)

2 Keep the signal operation appropriate for the current traffic conditions and consistent with current 

operational policies

3 Operate traffic signal system at its maximum efficiency within the context of a balanced, multimodal 

operation, as described in current operational policies

4 Undertake maintenance in a cost-effective manner

5 Cooperatively coordinate with neighbor agencies to develop and implement regional solutions to 

traffic problems related to regional issues

6 Design traffic signal system elements that are sustainable in a fiscally responsible manner

7 Maintain the traffic signal system so it always operates as intended

8 Maintain a traffic signal infrastructure that is appropriate for accommodating current mobility goals

9 Inform and educate all stakeholders of the challenge to maintain a modal balance and superior 

service. 

10 Keep the community fully informed about the development and operation of the traffic signal system 

so they understand what we do and why we do what we do, so they can judge for themselves how 

well we are satisfying their needs.
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Step 5 – Rationalize Strategies to Support Traffic Signal Management Plan Objectives

At this point you have a set of traffic signal management 

objectives that are consistent with your agency’s transportation 

goals and objectives. Most of these objectives will be 

supported by the strategies you described in Step 2. You 

should now review and revise the strategies so they clearly 

support your revised TSMP Objectives developed in Step 4. At 

this point, you may choose to reword the strategies and tactics 

for consistency, add to them, or consolidate them. This may 

involve further editing the objectives to ensure that strategies 

you consider important are not discarded because they were 

not linked to an appropriately worded objective. 

If you can’t clearly describe an objective that would justify 

employing a specific strategy, you should seriously consider 

dropping that strategy, because it cannot be justified within the 

context of your TSMP. This review process also provides the 

opportunity to confirm that all the stated tactics are, in fact, 

legitimately supporting your objectives. At this point, you may 

need to consider dropping a tactic (even a long-standing 

activity) if you cannot show that it is actually supporting your 

objectives and is consistent with your listed strategies. Now 

look at the objectives brought forward from Step 4 and identify 

any that are not yet support by strategies and tactics. If you have any, create additional strategies 

what will support those objectives. You may choose to identify those strategies in your action 

plan for future implementation.

One way to verify that the strategies and tactics are meeting the objectives is to develop a 

traceability matrix. To do this, start by listing your goals and objectives, organized in a way that 

shows which objectives support which goals. Then for each objective, list all the strategies that 

support each objective. It is quite likely that some strategies will support more than one 

objective, so you should list those several times, under each relevant objective. Each strategy is 

supported by one or more tactic or activity, and each tactic may support one or more strategies. 

You should now list each tactic that supports each strategy. As before, this may involve listing 

some tactics multiple times.

Table 8 shows example goals, objectives, strategies and tactics that have been developed in 

TSMPs by UDOT, City of Walnut Creek and City of South San Francisco.
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Table 8. Example traceability between goals, objectives and strategies.

Agency Goal TSMP Objective Strategy Tactic

Maintain the 

transportation system in 

the most efficient 

manner possible

Undertake 

maintenance in a cost 

effective manner

Perform regular 

preventive 

maintenance on all 

traffic signals

• Visit each intersection once per 

month and replace elements that 

are consumed in normal operation 

according to life cycle analysis for 

each element.

• Contract maintenance when it is 

more cost-effective that in-house.

Link communities 

through an efficient 

multimodal 

transportation network

Safely and efficiently 

accommodate all 

bicyclists at all traffic 

signals

Provide bicycle 

detection and 

appropriate timing at 

each signal

• Detect all bicycles arriving at 

traffic signals.

• Adjust signal timing to safely 

accommodate bicycles when they 

are detected.

Safely and efficiently 

accommodate all 

pedestrians at all 

traffic signals

Provide pedestrian 

detection and 

crosswalks for all 

desired pedestrian 

movements

• Provide push buttons for all 

signalized crosswalks.

• Provide signalized crosswalks for 

all feasible pedestrian crossings at 

traffic signals.

• Use pedestrian detection to 

minimize impact of pedestrian 

crossing times on traffic operation.
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Now you need to work upwards from objectives to goals, and also work downwards from goals 

to objectives. This will help you align the activities with your agency’s goals, and provide a basis 

for enunciating goals that have not been adequately documented so far, but are needed to clearly

show justification and support for all the activities. 

This then provides a vehicle for detailed reconsideration of what you do, why you do it, and will 

potentially lead in three different directions:

• Some activities may be determined to be unnecessary or even counter productive.

• Some goals and objectives will be seen as having no activities to support them.

• Some previously unstated goals will be documented and determined to be essential to the 

agency.

Step 6 – Develop Evaluation Methods

In Step 6 you select evaluation methods, measures and metrics 

that will allow you to assess both operational success (you are 

impacting traffic operations as desired) and implementation of 

strategies (you are effectively doing what you agreed to do). At 

this point, you have all the necessary elements to compile your 

TSMP (step 7). Within this document, we define performance 

measurement as the process of assessing the effectiveness of the 

traffic signal system in providing the desired traffic operational 

performance, and how well the objectives have been satisfied. 

This is measuring the outcomes. We define implementation 

verification as the process of measuring the activities undertaken 

by the team and determining to what extent the strategies and 

tactics have been implemented. This is measuring the outputs. 

For your operational Objectives, determine the performance 

measurement that is most appropriate to monitor performance. 

(See Chapter 4 for more information on selecting performance 

measures, determining data, and tracking performance of your 

system.)

It is best to start with one or two performance measures and 

build upon them as your system becomes more mature.

Examples of performance measures, related directly to the 

operational objectives implement by City of Mesa, City of Walnut Creek and UDOT, are 

including in Table 9. In each of these, a single measure of performance was chosen as a 

determinant of success in meeting an objective. For example, an objective defined by the City of 

Mesa a decade ago was to provide stable travel times on specified corridors. They defined 

stability as limiting annual increases in average travel times to be in proportion to the changes in 

traffic volumes. The travel times were initially measured using floating car surveys on an annual 

schedule, repeating the surveys during the same week of the year. In recent years, travel times 

are now measure automatically and continually using Bluetooth readers, providing both a larger 
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sample size and coverage of all periods of the day and days of the week, to allow better 

evaluation of the performance against the stated objective.

Table 9. Performance measures used in traffic signal management plans.

objective performance measure method of measurement agency

Maintain stable travel 

times in defined 

corridors

Average end to end travel 

time on defined corridor

Floating car (annual peak 

hour survey)

Bluetooth tracking (24/7)

Mesa

Provide predictable 

travel time on major 

arterials, consistent with 

traffic demand

Average end to end travel 

time.

Reliability of travel time

Bluetooth tracking (24/7) Walnut Creek

Provide smooth flow on 

defined arterials in 

unsaturated conditions

Percentage arrivals on 

green on corridor

High resolution data and 

Purdue Coordination Diagram

Utah 

Department of 

Transportation

Step 7 – Traffic Signal Management Plan Assembly

Now it is time to put the TSMP chapters together. Refer to the 

proposed Outline of Chapters in the next section to see how to 

compile the document. Feel free to modify this layout, just as 

long as you keep the intent of mapping the strategies to your 

agency’s goals.

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CHAPTER 4. OUTLINE FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL MANAGEMENT PLANS

Although the practical plan development process described above tends to work bottom up from 

the tactics to strategies, the plan should be organized in a logical fashion consistent with 

traditional strategic or master plans. The following is a suggested outline for a traffic signal 

management plan (TSMP).

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The executive summary provides a brief overview of what is in the document. This is a good 

place to list the TSMP objectives and discuss how they connect the strategies and tactics to the 

agency’s goals.

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Include an introduction to the document and a summary 

of your existing traffic signal system. The purpose of 

this section is to provide context to your system and 

create a baseline for activities.

The background summary may include the following:

• Purpose of the document and the procedure used 

to develop it.

• Map/list of existing traffic signals.

• Map/list of existing communications 

infrastructure.

• Table documenting history of traffic signal 

updates.

• Description of existing staff organizational 

structure.

• Description of relationship with adjacent 

agencies and regional partners.

CHAPTER 2 – GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

This chapter will summarize the agency’s 

transportation goals and the TSMP Objectives that 

support those goals. This chapter will describe the 

context within which the TSMP exists. Figure 9

illustrates the context of the City of Walnut Creek 

TSMP.

Extract from Utah Department 

of Transportation Draft TSMP

The purpose of this Traffic Signal 

Management Plan (TSMP) is to 

provide a framework for delivery 

of high quality service to the 

public through an efficient and 

well-maintained traffic signal 

system. The plan describes the 

objectives of traffic signal 

management within the context of 

the Utah Department of 

Transportation (UDOT) vision, 

mission, strategic goals and 

accountability. The plan sets out 

strategies to guide the 

maintenance, design and operation 

of the traffic signal system. It also 

defines appropriate measures of 

performance to determine the 

extent to which the objectives are 

being met, and verification reports 

to confirm that the defined 

strategies continue to be 

appropriately implemented on an 

ongoing basis.
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Source: City of Walnut Creek

Figure 9. Diagram. Traffic signal management plan context diagram.

2.1 Transportation Goals

You may choose to list all the agency goals and then highlight the ones that relate to the signal 

system or you can list only the ones that relate to the signal system. 

2.2 Traffic Signal Management Objectives

List the consolidated Objectives that relate to the agency goals and work for both the planner and 

operator.

2.3 Performance Measures

Summarize the Performance Measures you use, the method you use to obtain each metric and the 

objective it supports.
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CHAPTER 3 – MAINTENANCE 

This chapter documents the maintenance strategies and tactics you will use to meet the traffic 

signal management objectives.

3.1 Maintenance Strategies & Tactics

It is often convenient to describe three strategies for maintenance:

• Proactive maintenance strategies

• Reactive maintenance strategies

• Administrative maintenance strategies

Proactive maintenance strategies ensure that:

• Components of the traffic signal system that have a limited service life are regularly 

cleaned, replaced, recalibrated or tuned to prevent equipment failures; 

• Information that will prevent damage by others is provided in a timely manner. 

Example proactive tactics are included in Table 10.

Table 10. Example proactive maintenance tactics.

Maintain accurate as-built records of all elements of the traffic signal system, in a form readily 

accessible by maintenance staff when needed.

Visit every intersection once every two months and undertake all preventive maintenance 

activities, according to relevant procedure.

Provide up to date as-built records in a timely fashion to anyone who needs them in order to 

prevent damage to the traffic signal system.

Test items susceptible to damage that cannot be identified by observation during preventive 

maintenance activities, on a regular schedule using defined procedures.

Assign an expected lifespan to each traffic signal element, beyond which failure rate or 

performance is likely to unacceptable, and plan for timely replacement.

Reactive maintenance strategies ensure efficient and effective response when equipment fails 

and an emergency response is required to restore operation. Example reactive maintenance 

tactics are included in Table 11.
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Table 11. Example reactive maintenance tactics.

Maintain a sufficient number of generators to be able to restore stop-go operating at up to three 

intersections at which power has been cut and will not be restored within six hours.

Maintain sufficient spares at the maintenance facility to restore full operation of up to three 

intersections that experience equipment failures within 24 hours.

Maintain sufficient spares of safety-critical equipment on each maintenance vehicle to allow 

restoration of safe operation at an intersection that experiences safety-critical equipment failure 

within two hours.

Provide sufficient technicians on duty, on call or on contract to ensure safety-critical issues can 

be attended within agreed time parameters. (E.G., blacked out signal within one hour 24/7; signal 

timing error causing unsafe or illegal driver behavior within XX hours 24/7).

Have contracts in place to accommodate without delay, repairs that cannot be undertaken by 

maintenance technicians.

Administrative strategies enable the proactive and reactive maintenance to be smoothly 

implemented and continued in a sustainable manner. Examples of administrative maintenance 

tactics are shown in Table 12.

Table 12. Example administrative maintenance tactics.

Train all staff to be proficient in all activities to which they are assigned.

Analyze maintenance logs and regularly report effectiveness and efficiency.

Introduce new equipment in a cautious, structured manner with appropriate training and testing 

equipment.

Provide flexibility to work non-standard hours when required to accommodate emergency and 

unusual maintenance circumstances.

3.2 Implementation Verification

Define the records and analysis needed to verify, through periodic assessment, the extent to 

which the maintenance activities have been implemented. Examples of implementation 

verification measures for maintenance strategies and tactics are included in Table 13. For each 

metric, you should include the target value to be judged satisfactory, and the frequency of 

measurement and reporting.
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Table 13. Example maintenance implementation verification metrics.

Maintenance Verification Metric Target Timing

Comparison of actual vs programmed activities Variance of zero 

days

Report 

monthly

Number of reactive activities, by equipment type Zero Report 

monthly

Time to respond to emergency calls Varies by type of 

reported fault

Report 

monthly

Time to provide requested information (e.g., mark 

underground facilities)

Three days Report 

monthly

Number of staff trained to maintain equipment, by 

type

Varies by type of 

equipment

Report 

annually

Time to clear failures, by type Varies by type of 

fault

Report 

monthly

Detector status report

Tabulation of maintenance work orders

Fix detection 

problems before 

public notices

Report 

monthly

Report equipment and spares inventory, actual vs 

planned.

Zero variance Report 

monthly

Report staff status actual vs planned Zero variance Report 

monthly

CHAPTER 4 – OPERATIONS

This chapter documents the operations strategies and tactics you will use to meet the signal 

system objectives.

4.1 Operations Strategies and Tactics

List the strategies that relate to operations and briefly describe which objectives are being met by 

the strategies. It is often convenient to group your tactics under the following operations 

strategies:

• Operate the system efficiently

• Coordinate signals where this will improve traffic operation

• Time signals to provide multimodal safety and efficiency 

• Use phasing and timing to operate intersections efficiently

• Operate signals in coordination with regional partners using compatible strategies

Example tactics supporting system efficiency are included in Table 14. 
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Table 14. Example system efficiency tactics.

Install hardware and software to continually monitor performance under all conditions to which 

the operational strategies are being applied, and report the quality of that performance.

Automatically monitor traffic conditions and review signal timing whenever conditions change 

beyond a pre-determined amount.

Operate signals in a mode that suits current traffic conditions (e.g., use adaptive signal control to 

automatically adjust signal timing to suit the current traffic conditions; or use traffic responsive 

pattern selection to select the timing pattern most appropriate for the current traffic conditions).

Example tactics supporting effective signal coordination are included in Table 15.

Table 15. Example signal coordination tactics.

When needed to accommodate demand, provide a “pipeline” along arterial roads, to maximize 

flow on the coordinated route while keeping side street delay to an acceptable level.

While accommodating demand, as far as possible, coordinate signals along arterial roads to 

minimize stops along the arterial, while keeping side street delay to an acceptable level.

Away from major arterials, distribute phase splits to balance delays on all approaches.

Where protected/permissive left turns are provided, allow the protected phase to be excluded 

from the signal pattern when the permissive phase will provide sufficient capacity to safely 

accommodate all left turns without carryover queues.

When providing coordination, include consideration of “complete street” policies.

Review, and revise as appropriate, coordinated signal timing at least once every two years.

Example tactics supporting multimodal safety and efficiency are included in Table 16.

Table 16. Example multimodal safety and efficiency tactics.

Provide adequate phase green and clearance times for bicycles on each traffic signal phase, using 

relevant Caltrans and national standards.

Use phase clearance times and pedestrian walk and clearance times calculated to comply with 

CA MUTCD and other applicable standards.

Depending on the area, optimum synchronization of vehicular traffic may be compromised to 

accommodate pedestrian, bicycle and transit needs.

Example tactics supporting intersection efficiency are included in Table 17.

Table 17. Example intersection efficiency tactics.

Review signal timing at applicable traffic signals whenever a policy related to timing is 

modified.

Use signal timings and flexible phasing arrangements to prevent queues exceeding critical 

lengths in left turn bays, in short blocks on arterial roads and on freeway off-ramps.

Example tactics supporting regional coordination and compatibility are included in Table 18.
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Table 18. Example regional coordination and compatibility tactics.

Coordinate signals across jurisdictional boundaries by: operating all signals on one system; 

coordinating patterns across boundaries by synchronizing clocks and timing patterns; or 

coordinating patterns across boundaries by interconnecting systems.

Participate in regular operations coordination meetings with adjacent agencies.

Coordinate arterial signals with ramp intersection signals.

Coordinate arterial signals with ramp meters.

Coordinate signals to accommodate traffic diverted by freeway incidents.

4.2 Implementation Verification

Define the records and analysis needed to verify, through periodic assessment, the extent to 

which the operations activities have been implemented. Examples of implementation verification 

measures for operations strategies and tactics are included in Table 19. For each metric, you 

should include the target value to be judged satisfactory, and the frequency of measurement and 

reporting.

Table 19. Example operations implementation verification metrics.

Operations Verification Metric Target Timing

Arterial volume (Throughput) Monthly report

Minor phase max-out Monthly report

Number of stops, weighted by volume # stops per mile Periodic floating car

Frequency queue exceeds limit Zero blockages Continuous detection

No. intersections with bicycle timing All intersections Annual report

CHAPTER 5 – DESIGN

This chapter documents the design strategies (or standards) you will use to meet the operational 

objectives. This section links how design standards impact maintenance and operations 

resources. It will also show how design elements need to be driven by the operations strategies 

(e.g., detection in the right place, correct type of detection, use of suitable signal phasing, control 

of variety of equipment).

5.1 Design Strategies and Tactics

List the strategies that relate to design and briefly describe which objectives are being met by the 

strategies. It is often convenient to group your tactics under the following design strategies:

• Operations support.

• Maintenance support.

• Multimodal accommodation.

• Regional coordination.

• Manage design process efficiently.

Example tactics supporting operations are included in Table 20.
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Table 20. Example operations support tactics.

Design signals to allow application of versatile operational strategies to suit varying traffic 

conditions and changing community expectations (include relevant details).

Specify detection systems that have a proven record of high performance and reliability, and are 

maintainable at a high level of availability (include relevant details).

Design a communications system to have a high performance level in terms of capacity 

(bandwidth), communication speed, reliability and availability, suitable to accommodate all 

operational requirements.

Design system to allow efficient setup, fine tuning and monitoring by operations staff.

Provide high standard communications from the TOC to every City-operated traffic signal.

Use non-invasive detection technology on approaches requiring high street maintenance or 

underground utility activity that would damage normal loops.

Use robust detection installation that will be less affected by pavement deterioration, road 

maintenance or construction activities.

Example tactics supporting maintenance are included in Table 21.

Table 21. Example maintenance support tactics.

Design the traffic signal system to allow a high level of efficiency and cost-effectiveness of 

maintenance and operation activities (reference design standards).

Design system to automatically detect and report faults.

Design system to minimize failure rates of equipment units.

Design signals to minimize risk of damage due to crashes and vandalism.

Design system to allow fast and efficient response by maintenance staff.

Design communications system to self-diagnose and report faults.

Design communications system to be self-healing.

Design communications system to minimize damage by others.

Design communications to have low risk of damage by others.

Example tactics supporting multimodal accommodation are included in Table 22.

Table 22. Example multimodal accommodation tactics.

Provide a high level of accessibility of traffic signals to all road users (e.g., facilities 

accommodating pedestrians, cyclists, transit passengers).

Provide crosswalks for all reasonable pedestrian movements at traffic signals.

Provide push buttons for all pedestrian phases.

Provide bicycle detection in each bicycle lane at each traffic signal.

Provide bicycle detection in each traffic lane at each traffic signal.

Upgrade intersection elements to current ADA standards when significant modifications or 

construction work are undertaken in the vicinity of the intersection. (Need to have a policy 

defining what is significant, and what thresholds will be used to determine what work is 

appropriate.)

Example tactics supporting regional coordination and compatibility are included in Table 23.
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Table 23. Example regional coordination and compatibility tactics.

Interconnect signals across jurisdiction boundaries.

Design arterial signals to coordinate with ramp intersection signals.

Design arterial signals to coordinate with ramp meters.

Example tactics supporting efficient design management are included in Table 24.

Table 24. Example design management tactics.

Follow systems engineering principles for all new system elements and when considering major 

changes to the system (Describe approach in an appendix; List suitable references and 

guidebooks, such as FHWA’s guidance documents and standards).

Maintain a design review checklist to identify all elements that must be included in a design and 

the appropriate standard or specification.

Design system to share high bandwidth communications with other departments and agencies 

where it will be feasible and cost-effective.

Specify materials to minimize deterioration of performance and appearance that would require

continued maintenance or early replacement.

Routinely review existing traffic signal installations to ensure their design is still appropriate for 

the prevailing conditions (e.g., appropriate number of phases, appropriately accommodate 

pedestrians and bicycles, the need for the signal is still valid).

5.2 Implementation Verification

Define the records and analysis needed to verify, through periodic assessment, the extent to 

which the operations activities have been implemented. Examples of implementation verification 

measures for design strategies and tactics are included in Table 25. For each metric, you should 

include the target value to be judged satisfactory, and the frequency of measurement and 

reporting.
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Table 25. Example operations implementation verification metrics.

Verification Metric Target Timing

Document number of signals with full vehicleactuated capability. 100% Annual review

Document number of signals with full 

communications capability. 100% Annual review

Document reliability of detection, by type. Annual failure rate, 

by type Annual review

Document actual vs planned communications 

bandwidth, by intersection. Actual = Planned Annual review

Document number of detectors not operating as 

designed, and reason for failure.

95% serviceable at 

any one time Monthly report

Document resources required for setup, fine tuning 

and monitoring activities. Annual review

Confirm specifications consistent with needs of all 

operations and maintenance. Annual review

Document faults found during maintenance are 

consistent with reports and alarms generated by 

system.

System reports 

100% of faults Monthly review

Confirm all required details are in design review 

checklist. Annual review

Report design exceptions, variations from standards 

and design review checklist. Annual review

CHAPTER 6 – MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

This chapter documents the strategies and tactics that are associated with enabling activities

(management, administration and customer service). These strategies relate to the management 

of the staff, personnel issues, programming and budgeting, not the day to day activities on the 

street.

6.1 Management and Administration Strategies

List the strategies that relate to management and administration and briefly describe which 

objectives are being met by the strategies. It is often convenient to group your tactics under the 

following management and administration strategies:

• Personnel

• Inter-department coordination

• Budgeting and programming

• Customer service

Example tactics supporting personnel strategies are included in Table 26.
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Table 26. Example personnel tactics.

Provide a well-trained group of staff with sufficient resources to handle staff changes and 

temporary fluctuations without compromising the performance of the traffic signal system.

Coordinate the activities of all relevant staff involved in planning, designing, operating and 

maintaining the traffic signal system.

Develop and implement a succession plan for each staff position.

Document procedures to the extent necessary for a new or temporarily assigned staff member to 

be able to efficiently complete the duties of the position.

Define qualifications appropriate for all staff and a policy to ensure staff remain appropriately 

qualified. 

Example tactics supporting inter-departmental coordination are included in Table 27.

Table 27. Example interdepartmental coordination tactics.

Define when and how to coordinate planning reviews with operations and maintenance staff.

Define when and how to coordinate CIP development, grant applications and internal budgeting.

Define how to handle design reviews.

Example tactics supporting budgeting and programming are included in Table 28.

Table 28. Example budgeting and programming tactics.

Maintain a list of intersections that require upgrade or improvement when modifications are 

proposed by others (e.g., developer of adjacent property). (List should be based on regular 

assessment of intersection operations, maintenance history, obsolete or defective equipment, 

within an undergrounding district, listed in the CIP, etc.).

Maintain a plan to avoid obsolescence as current equipment ceases to be supported by vendors.

Regularly review new technology developments beyond traffic signals that will require 

modifications to existing equipment and practices (e.g., connected vehicles).

Example tactics supporting customer service are included in Table 29
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Table 29. Example customer service tactics.

Empower all employees to be ambassadors of the City by providing them with a good 

understanding of the traffic signal system, and training them to recognize when it is appropriate 

to discuss with customers and when to refer to a more qualified staff member.

Measure and report our performance in responding to complaints.

Tell customers ahead of time what to expect (e.g., normal operations, planned events such as 

community events and lane closures, and expected incidents such as weather events).

Provide timely information in response to unplanned and unexpected incidents and emergencies.

Report regularly to officials, show where the traffic signal management plan is leading and how 

it is responding to the City’s goals and objectives.

Engender pride in the traffic signal system.

Provide procedures and standards to all staff for customer service activities, such as:

Accepting and responding to trouble calls.

Accepting and responding to requests to modify the way the traffic signal system is designed or 

operates.

Dealing with media requests.

Reporting system performance to City Council.

6.2 Implementation Verification

Define the records and analysis needed to verify, through periodic assessment, the extent to 

which the management and administration activities have been implemented. Examples of 

implementation verification measures for management and administration strategies and tactics 

are included in Table 30. For each metric, you should include the target value to be judged 

satisfactory, and the frequency of measurement and reporting.

Table 30. Example management and administration implementation verification metrics.

Management Verification Metric Target Timing

Time to respond to customer Initial response – X days Monthly report

Time to close out request Closeout – two weeks Monthly report

Types of inquiries Monthly report

Percentage of inquiries satisfied Monthly report

CHAPTER 7 – INTERAGENCY COMMUNICATION & COLLABORATION

This chapter documents the existing relationship between your agency and adjacent agencies that 

may have influence on the transportation system. Discuss how you communicate and collaborate 

on operational issues and planning for future projects. Document where your operational 

objectives do not align perfectly with your neighboring agencies, particularly where your 

operations interface such as at jurisdiction boundaries, at freeway interchanges and where arterial 

roads pass through shopping and business districts. Examples of non-alignment of operational 

objectives include:
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• A regional agency wanting to maximize throughput on arterials during peak hours, but a 

local agency wanting to provide smooth flow at that time.

• A highway agency using ramp metering to protect freeway flow, which causes queuing 

that, interferes with arterial operation.

• A transit agency wishing to have higher performance through use of signal priority, while 

a local or highway agency regards overall traffic efficiency as paramount.

Strategies will typically fall into the following categories:

• Staff from partner agencies with similar responsibilities regularly meet, maintaining a 

forum for discussing traffic signal system issues of mutual interest (such as planning, 

design, operations and maintenance).

• Partner agencies cooperate to present a unified program or complementary projects when 

seeking funding.

• Maintain cooperative agreements for important issues such as system design and 

compatibility, and supportive maintenance arrangements.

CHAPTER 8 – ACTION PLAN

This chapter documents a framework to help you identify areas of improvement, better organize 

your work plan, and secure funding and other support. Document where you are today and where 

you want to be in the future. You then can create an action plan on how to get from one point to 

the other.

The key elements of the action plan should be:

• Document procedures and activities that are currently performed on an ad hoc basis. 

Capture for posterity the good practices currently performed by staff who have developed 

their practices through experience and in response to the constraints under which they 

work, but have not written them down. This will be important for sustainability of your 

operations in the face of staff turnover and resource limitations.

• Define how you will measure both what you do (your outputs) and what you achieve in 

the eyes of the community (your outcomes). Use this section to plan what resources you 

need and systems that must be in place to make those measurements.

• Define how you will use the results of your measurements to review and revise your 

operations in order to optimize your activities, to provide the outputs most efficiently and 

achieve the best outcomes possible within your resource limitations.

This chapter also documents events or circumstances that can trigger review and revision of the 

TSMP, and define a process to control how updates are developed and implemented, in a manner 

that will not be counterproductive.

An example action plan is illustrated in Table 31.
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Table 31. Sample traffic signal management plan action plan.

ID Action Timing

1

Prepare a list of procedures that are applicable to the signal 

management tactics; consolidate into an appendix to this document 

or (if they existing in other manuals of procedures) specify their 

storage location in the list.

Three months after 

adoption

2

Prepare procedures for activities that are not adequately described 

in existing procedures.

(List the procedures that are not currently documented, or for 

which the documentation is dispersed and needs to be 

consolidated).

Twelve months after 

adoption

3 Prepare staff training, backup and transition plan for each position Six months after 

adoption

4 Introduce the traffic signal management plan the entire design, 

maintenance and operations team

One month after 

adoption

5 Develop a quarterly assessment and action plan Quarterly

6

Prepare an assessment of the impact of Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) 

and Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) developments on traffic signal 

management.

Six months after 

adoption

7 Schedule a refresh of the document in one year’s time Twelve months after 

adoption
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APPENDIX A. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT CASE STUDIES

LINKING TRAFFIC SIGNAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO AGENCY 

OBJECTIVES - CASE STUDY OF MESA, ARIZONA (POPULATION: 500,000)

Agency representative: Avery Rhodes

Interviewer: David Hale and Kevin Fehon

Interview date: 05/14/2015

Operational Objective

The City of Mesa has used travel time data, since 2006, as a measure of traffic signal system 

performance. The travel time metric is used to monitor the operational objective of stable travel 

times along certain corridors. The objective is to ensure that along each corridor, the growth rate 

of traffic volume always exceeds the growth rate of travel times. If travel time growth rate along 

a corridor increases by an amount greater than traffic volume growth rate, this would trigger a 

review of the need to update signal timings.

Floating Car Travel Time Measurement

The original method of collecting corridor travel times was by floating car surveys, between 

defined origin-destination (O-D) pairs. Floating car surveys were typically conducted during the 

first two weeks of April, or during the first week of October. These time frames were considered 

to represent “average” traffic conditions for Mesa. The floating car surveys were performed 

along four major arterials, during the p.m. peak (3:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.). Data were collected 

using hand held electronic data collection boards by staff members traveling at a speed they 

believed to be representative of typical traffic at the time. Since the travel time data are limited 

(i.e., only for two weeks of the year, only during the p.m. peak, and only a limited number of 

runs per peak period), the City could only use the metric to monitor high level trends.

Migration to BluetoothTM Travel Time Measurement

Starting in 2012, the City tested a new method of collecting travel time data; MAC address 

matching (Bluetooth). The average travel times measured using this method were found to be 

very similar to those obtained by floating car surveys for the PM peak period, which provided 

confidence that it could replace the floating car method. However, significant additional benefits 

were also realized. The automated method reduces the amount of direct manual labor needed. It 

increases the sample size and reliability of measurements. It allows assessment of travel times 

over the whole day, weekends, and throughout the various seasons. It also has the ability to 

identify traffic issues in real time. Such traffic issues include:

• Incidents – which would result in short term increased travel times.

• New development – which would gradually increase travel times due to increase in 

traffic.

• Bad detection/timing parameters – which may result in increased travel times.
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Source: City of Mesa

Figure 10. Diagram. High-level system concept diagram.
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The Bluetooth technology has improved the city’s data collection and analysis. The automated 

system (illustrated above) is constantly operating, so the City is able to collect data on more 

corridors, 24 hours a day, instead of just during the p.m. peak periods. Raw data are uploaded on 

an as-needed basis for reporting and archiving, but the Bluetooth map refreshes every 30 

seconds. Recurrent congestion is expected in certain locations every day, but unexpected 

congestion is detected when analysts spot abnormal congestion patterns in certain locations. The 

City currently does not have the resources to constantly monitor these outputs, to discern when 

crashes or other events are affecting traffic operations. A color-coded problem detection system 

is expected to pay dividends in the future, in terms of cost-effectiveness and accuracy, but it is 

not yet fully automated.

Twenty major arterial streets are now covered by the Bluetooth-based travel time study system, 

while a smaller number of corridors are still monitored via floating car surveys. The city 

currently maintains 82 sensors at one-mile spacing, with an estimated 40 percent of the city 

being covered (illustrated below). Bluetooth data are collected by matching MAC addresses 

detected by one sensor (A) with a second sensor (B), and computing travel times between the 

points. Travel times for the one-mile increments are added together to calculate total travel times 

along predetermined routes.

Source: City of Mesa

Legend:

Location of Re-Identification Sensor

Twenty Highest Crash Locations (2011)

City of Mesa TMC

Dynamic Message Sign

Arterial Coverage Area (Primary Linear Connection)

Arterial Coverage Area (Secondary Non-Linear Connection)
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Figure 11. Map. Distribution of MAC address readers in Mesa, Arizona.

Experimentation with WiFi Travel Time Measurement

The city is concerned about possible deterioration of Bluetooth reliability over time. 

“Undiscoverable” mode is the new default on many electronic devices, possibly for privacy 

reasons; whereas in the past, devices used to be shipped with “discoverable” mode enabled by 

default. The low number of Bluetooth matches (3-6 percent of total volume) is concerning. This 

low number may continue to decline as undiscoverable devices continue to be purchased, and as 

older (discoverable) devices are discarded.

Because of this, the city is experimenting with WiFi readers as an alternative to Bluetooth 

readers. WiFi is another technology that matches unique electronic signatures of electronic 

devices. It is too early to tell if the WiFi data provides the same reliability and accuracy that the 

Bluetooth readers have. However, it is noted that while Bluetooth handshaking occurs 

continually, the WiFi seek typically occurs approximately every 30 seconds. Therefore it is 

possible that the sample of vehicles detected using WiFi may be biased towards vehicles that 

stop adjacent to each monitoring site, compared to those detected using Bluetooth.

Lessons Learned

Over time, the city aims to gradually automate their travel time data collection system to the 

maximum extent possible. However for now, the ARID-Bluetooth system requires a human to 

observe variations from “normal” traffic conditions. Purdue’s automated signal performance 

measure (SPM) concepts may provide a pathway to enabling automation, and providing residents 

with faster problem response times. The city is moving in the direction of identifying problems

before they get reported as complaints. They are cooperating with other agencies within the 

region. The city is providing data feeds from 10 intersections to the regional Utah Department of 

Transportation (UDOT) automated SPM software that has been installed on pilot basis. This is 

marking a move by the region to invest in automated SPMs. The UDOT system is illustrated on:

www.udottraffic.utah.gov/signalperformancemetrics

However this automation requires extra detection, compared to the detection provided at most 

intersections in Mesa. Part of the City’s evaluation of this system will be to weigh the benefits 

against the costs of this additional detection.

LINKING TRAFFIC SIGNAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO AGENCY 

OBJECTIVES - CASE STUDY OF WALNUT CREEK, CALIFORNIA (POPULATION: 

70,000) - CASE STUDY DATE: 08/27/2015

Operational Objectives
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Ygnacio Valley Road is defined by the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Commission 

(MTC) as an arterial-level “route of regional significance” traversing Walnut Creek, providing 

the primary access to downtown and various neighborhoods, and connecting I-680 to several 

cities to the east of Walnut Creek. It is a major commuter route that carries in excess of 100,000 

vehicles per day, and experiences significant variation in traffic demand, as a result of incidents 

on freeways for which it provides an alternative route, and concerts and other events at an 

outdoor concert pavilion and at a performing arts center. The primary operational objective for 

this corridor is to provide predictable and stable travel times that are consistent with the level of 

demand for the various periods of the day and days of the week.

Source: Google Maps and City of Walnut Creek

Figure 12. Map. Location of Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek.

Background 

Since the 1980’s, the City of Walnut Creek has devoted significant resources to traffic signal 

system maintenance and coordinated signal timing. During the past 35 years, the majority of 

signals within the city have been coordinated using a central signal system, which has been 

upgraded and replaced several times. While the city has devoted considerable local resources to 

equipment purchases, operation and maintenance, their ability to perform this high level of 

operations and maintenance has been aided greatly by a series of grant funding opportunities.
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Each time the city has received a grant to update its coordinated signal timing, it has been 

required to submit final reports containing before-and-after studies, to validate the retiming 

effectiveness. The studies were typically accomplished by using floating cars to measure travel 

time, stopped delay, and numbers of stops, which were used to calculate a benefit/cost (B/C)

ratio. As a result, the corridor has been retimed approximately every three to five years since the 

mid-1980’s, so there is a long-term record of travel time performance along the corridor. In 

addition, staff have continually maintained and fine-tuned the signal timing during the 

intervening years, the formal travel time surveys have been periodically supplemented by less 

formal travel time surveys conducted by staff at various times of the day, to highlight any 

deterioration in travel times that may need attention between the major retiming projects.

The city is also collecting extensive traffic volume data through its central signal system, and 

these data are sometimes cross-correlated with the travel times. In some cases where travel time 

anomalies have been identified, the city has been able to use traffic volume anomalies to partially 

or fully explain the deviations. These volume and travel time cross-correlations are not fully 

automated, and the city does not maintain a formal policy for how often these cross-correlations 

are analyzed. Review of the volume data in 2010 showed the variability in traffic demand along 

the corridor, as illustrated in Figure 13.

Eastbound Westbound

Source: City of Walnut Creek

Figure 13. Chart. Illustration of demand variation on Ygnacio Valley Road.

Installation of ATMS.NOW and BluetoothTM Travel Time Readers

In 2010, the city upgraded its Naztec Streetwise signal system to the more modern ATMS.now, 

in order to add adaptive signal control technology (ASCT). The ASCT capability was desired for 

addressing and mitigating some unstable operation on the corridor. To validate its effectiveness 

in meeting the operational objective, the city needed to measure travel times along the corridor.

However, to assess the ASCT benefits, which can be significant at unpredictable times of the 

day, they knew floating car surveys conducted using traditional methods, during the traditional 

periods of AM peak, mid-day and PM peak, would be inadequate. To expand floating car 

surveys to cover all periods during which adaptive operation may perform differently from 

traditional time of day (TOD) operation was cost prohibitive, and could not reliably capture 

Concert Traffic
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times when traffic demand varied because of incidents on the alternative freeway routes. This 

motivated them to deploy Bluetooth readers, which continuously collect data at all times. These 

were installed (initially as a temporary deployment) along Ygnacio Valley Road as the adaptive 

system was being fine-tuned and evaluated, during 2012.

Ygnacio Valley Road is divided into three relatively homogeneous sections by two significant 

crossing arterials, with a freeway at the western end and another crossing arterial at the eastern 

end. The complete corridor remains coordinated at all times except during the overnight hours, 

when coordination is temporarily lifted due to low volumes. To conduct the before-and-after 

studies, a Latin-Squares survey design ensured that both adaptive and non-adaptive operation 

were applied to the full corridor at comparable times on comparable days, to remove the 

uncertainty associated with daily and seasonal variations in traffic patterns and demands. By 

installing one reader at each of the four major boundary intersections, it became possible to 

reliably measure travel times for each section on a 24/7/365 basis.

Initial Use of Bluetooth Data

The Bluetooth data was initially used for the Before/After evaluation of the ASCT. Because it 

was expected that the ASCT would automatically vary its operation based on the measured 

traffic volumes, the most appropriate method for comparing the two operating modes was to 

relate the measured travel times to the measured demand present at the same time. The Bluetooth 

travel time data was combined with the traffic volume data from the traffic signal system to 

calculate vehicle hours of travel (VHT) and vehicle miles of travel (VMT) for each 15 minute 

period of the two-week evaluation period, for each of the three sections of the corridor. By 

plotting these data and running regression analyses, various comparisons could be made to 

examine:

• The overall difference in travel times under the two operating conditions

• The relative stability of travel times under the two operating conditions

The data, a sample of which is shown in Figure 14, illustrated the variability in travel time with 

demand, and in some cases the instability of travel times as demand varies. This was useful for 

the city staff to determine the suitability of ASCT for their situation, and evaluate it against their 

objective of providing stable travel times consistent with the traffic demand.
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Improved performance at higher demand Improved stability at higher demand

Source: City of Walnut Creek

Figure 14. Chart. Sample analysis using Bluetooth and traffic volume data.

Longer Term Use of BlueToad Data

Over the longer term, in the three years since the readers were installed, staff have used the 

Bluetooth data to continually monitor the travel times in both directions on the corridor, and to 

provide guidance on when there was a need to review signal timing to accommodate issues. It 

has also provided a very useful resource for verifying the validity of citizen complaints about 

signal operation. The example BlueToad report shown in Figure 15, covering weekdays of three 

consecutive weeks in August, 2015, shows relative stability of travel time but with occasional 

significant outliers occurring once during the three week period on each weekday except 

Monday. This is an example of a report that can provide staff with the opportunity to periodically 

examine the operation, at very little cost, and have accurate data that would formerly have been 

unavailable.
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Source: City of Walnut Creek

Figure 15. Graph. Sample BlueToadTM travel time report for Ygnacio Valley Road.

Lessons Learned

Overall, the city was quite satisfied with performance of the Bluetooth system, in achieving their 

initial objective of assessing the ASCT performance. This success inspired them to continue 

using the system, and a permanent installation replaced the temporary deployment. It now 

provides a continuous and lasting assessment of signal timing plan effectiveness and stability 

over time, allowing continuous measurement of the system’s performance against the objective 

of predictable and stable travel times on this important corridor. As a result of this successful 

experience, the system is in the process of being expanded to include the other important 

coordinated routes within the city.

LINKING TRAFFIC SIGNAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO AGENCY 

OBJECTIVES - CASE STUDY (SIGNAL PROGRESSION) OF UTAH DEPARTMENT 

OF TRANSPORTATION - OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has identified the operational objective of 

providing smooth flow along suitable corridors (such as linear arterials that connect regional 

activity centers and freeways), particularly in under-saturated conditions. Percent Arrivals on 

Green (AoG) is a measure of how effectively bandwidth promotes progression with coordinated 

traffic signal parameters designed to promote automobile flow without stops along arterials. 

This high-resolution signal performance measure can assess progression through both adaptive 

and non-adaptive signal corridors. 

Background

Coordinated signal timing plans are typically prepared on the basis of computer analysis, using 

tools such as SynchroTM. The traditional approach involves extensive data collection of volumes 

and travel times; development of a calibrated model of the existing coordination (if applicable); 

optimization of the timings based on the in-built objective function (minimizing a function that is 

usually some combination of stops and delays); manual adjustment of the suggested timing using 

time-space diagrams to provide bandwidth and progression that is considered by the analyst to 

provide more acceptable operation; and fine tuning of those timings in the field based on 

roadside and windscreen observations.

UDOT’s experience has been that while the cycle length and phase splits recommended by the 

software are often close to the final adopted settings, much fine tuning is required of the offsets 

to successfully accommodate the variations in average travel speeds often encountered from 

block to block, which in turn often vary with time of day, depending on traffic density and the 

prevalence of disturbances to flow caused by turning vehicles using mid-block driveways, 

percentage of larger vehicles in the traffic stream and differences in driver populations. Because 
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the fine tuning is based simply on observation, there is no single metric that can be used to 

confirm that the optimum offsets have been selected. Attempts to simulate the effect of the fine 

tuning within the computer model can only be indicative, and not accurately reflect the actual 

vehicle operation, because of the many underlying assumptions built into the model coding.

Assessment of the quality of coordination has historically been mainly undertaken using limited 

floating car surveys. These are often in the form of “before and after” studies related to signal 

retiming projects and, of necessity because of the expense, are generally limited to short periods 

of the day (AM, PM and Mid-Day peak periods) on days of the week and months when traffic is 

considered “typical.” Even when these are supplemented by informal travel time surveys by 

operators, they have very limited sample size and do not provide a rigorous assessment of the 

signal timing performance.

As identified in the 2012 National Traffic Signal Report Card, many agencies recognize that 

traffic patterns and volumes change over time, and there is a need to review and recalibrate 

signal timing regularly to accommodate these changes. Because historically there has been no 

on-line measure of performance available, FHWA recommends that agencies should review their 

signal timing once every three to five years. However, this means that a significant investment is 

already sunk by the time an up to date model of the existing traffic volumes and signal operation 

is completed, and an assessment can be made of whether new timings are likely to better than the 

existing timings.

Migration to Systematic Performance Monitoring

The Purdue Coordination Diagram (PCD) provides a graphical method to illustrate the stage of a 

cycle at which vehicles arrive at an intersection. For a specific approach of an intersection, the 

arrivals can be plotted in a time scale, as illustrated in Figure 16, in which each dot represents the 

arrival of a single vehicle. By calculating statistics (such as the AoG) for the coordinated 

approaches of all intersections within a corridor, during a specific period, it is now possible to 

derive a single metric (Corridor AoG) that indicates the quality of the coordination, based on the 

objective of providing smooth flow along a corridor. An example of this is illustrated in 

Figure17.
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Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 16. Diagram. Sample Purdue Coordination Diagram.
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Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 17. Diagram. corridor arrival on green report.

UDOT’s system of performance monitoring for coordinated corridors now follows a two-phase 

process. In the first phase, AoG values are observed at each intersection and used during the fine 

tuning process. When unacceptable locations are identified, signal timings are fine-tuned until all 

AoGs fall within an acceptable range, and/or the platoons are stopped at acceptable locations. An 

assessment of the likely effect on one pair of intersections of changing the offset can be provided 

by the software, as illustrated in Figure 18. Once this process has been completed for all links, 

this establishes an appropriate baseline against which to monitor ongoing performance, as 

illustrated in Figure 18.
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Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 18. Graph. Using arrivals on green for optimization of offsets.

In the second phase UDOT continuously monitors ongoing performance, comparing the corridor 

AoG metric to the baseline established during the first phase. A semi-automated system is in 

place to monitor for significant AoG deviations. This allows for an intelligent assessment of the 

need for signal retiming, based on the deviation of the metric from the baseline. In this way, 

retiming can be triggered in a shorter period of time if the deviation exceeds a threshold set by 

UDOT for the corridor, while unnecessary retiming is avoided if the deviation is still small after 

the normal retiming interval has elapsed.

Experimenting with Pro-Active Offset Optimization

In addition to the improved decision-making made possible by systematic monitoring of AoG, 

UDOT has observed significant benefits from semi-automated optimization of AoG. The Purdue 

Link Pivot (PLP) algorithm uses an iterative approach to identify the impact of potential offset 

changes for both approaches in a link, to optimize AoG. Data required for applying this 

algorithm are collected automatically through an intersection’s advance detectors, and through 

phase data obtained directly from the controllers. The PLP is a compelling concept because 

resource-intensive modeling and calibration are not required. Moreover the PLP easily 

accommodates elements that are difficult to model, such as link travel times and early returns to 

main street green. The PLP even automatically considers progression for heavy left turns. 

However the PLP cannot directly address queues that extend beyond detectors, and large offset 

changes may require multiple iterations. So rather than following the traditionally labor-intensive 

process of model optimization, modification and fine tuning, staff can select the cycle length and 

splits and install them with an initial set of offsets, then use the PLP to approach the optimum.
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Lessons Learned

Purdue University’s automated signal performance measurement concepts, which include AoG 

values derived from the PCD, have allowed UDOT to establish an efficient process for continual 

assessment of the performance of coordination on a corridor against the objective of providing 

smooth flow. Additional benefits have accrued because resources are shifting from off-line 

analysis to on-line fine tuning and optimization, and resources for retiming are now better 

directed towards corridors that need retiming, rather than those next on the schedule.

The monitoring technology set up by UDOT represents a paradigm shift of traffic signal system 

architecture. In this architecture, controllers are connected to a central traffic signal management 

system in the traditional fashion, for all management and control functions provided by the 

vendor. However, a separate communication channel is provided between the controllers and the 

performance monitoring server. FTP sessions are opened with local controllers to automatically 

create reports, without interfering with the traffic control functions. 

In response to these achievements, it is expected that more agencies will incorporate system 

requirements related to High Resolution Data performance reporting into traffic signal system 

specifications. In response to these requirements it is likely that vendors will modify their 

systems to accommodate and/or incorporate high-resolution data logging. The UDOT system is 

illustrated on:

www.udottraffic.utah.gov/signalperformancemetrics

LINKING TRAFFIC SIGNAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES TO AGENCY 

OBJECTIVES - CASE STUDY (DETECTION HEALTH) OF UTAH DEPARTMENT OF 

TRANSPORTATION - OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVE

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) has established a maintenance objective of 

keeping traffic signals in a good state of repair and operating in a manner for which they were 

designed. A maintenance strategy of proactively maintaining the reliability of field infrastructure 

calls for an activity that regularly monitors the health of intersection detection. While regular 

preventative maintenance activities might involve annual testing of all intersection detection 

systems, UDOT has taken this tactic to the next level by adopting a system of analyzing highresolution signal controller data, to quickly identify detector faults. This allows them to monitor 

performance against the objective to “keep traffic signals in a good state of repair and operating 

in the manner for which they were designed”; and also implements the strategy to “identify 

detector faults in a timely manner.” The primary metric for this is the proportion of cycles in a 

user specified period that are extended to their maximum green time or “max-outs.”

When signal phases are observed as maxing-out frequently during time periods when traffic 

demand is expected to be light, this implies a detector malfunction. Detector failures of inductive 

loops trigger a constant on condition, causing traffic signal phases they are associated with to 
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“max-out.” A high proportion of max-outs would typically only occur in a fully functional signal 

when there is a high number of queued vehicles in each cycle, resulting in consistent phase 

failures and carryover queues. While maxing out can also be caused by platoons of vehicles 

arriving towards the end of green, this would not consistently happen from cycle to cycle unless 

the upstream signal is coordinated with the phase that experiences this arrival pattern. This highresolution signal performance measure can be used to assess detector health at both coordinated 

and non-coordinated signal locations.

Background

Prior to use of the high resolution data, maintenance staff relied on alarms and fault reports 

generated by the central traffic signal system to identify potential detector faults, or faults were 

identified when responding to citizen complaints about inappropriate signal timing. Most traffic 

signal systems flag a detector that has registered continuous presence longer than some pre-set 

duration (locked on), registers continuous short detections that are too short to be vehicles 

(oscillating), or does not register presence for a pre-set period of time (not detecting).

When a complaint is received about poor or faulty signal timing, the typical sequence of events 

involved:

• Receiving a report of a signal timing problem

• Dispatching a technician to the intersection to investigate

• Determining whether the timing problem was related to an equipment malfunction or 

timing that may require review

• Testing detectors to determine whether or not they are faulty.

However, there were situations in which the technician was unable to identify a fault. In some 

cases involving video detection, the fault condition only occurred during darkness and the 

technician typically visited the site during daylight. In the case of loop detectors it may be 

possible that after a fault occurs the detector unit retunes itself and the fault is cleared. 

There was clearly benefit to be gained in terms of improved traffic operations and public 

relations if the detector faults could be identified shortly after they occurred, and before they 

have sufficient impact on traffic operations that members of the public complain. There was also 

direct financial benefit to be gained by UDOT if the labor involved in identifying and 

troubleshooting detector faults could be reduced.

Systematic Performance Monitoring

The UDOT system of detection monitoring produces reports that highlight detection anomalies. 

This system allows staff to proactively identify and fix detection problems, and reduces the labor 

involved in identifying faulty detection as the source of a timing problem. 

There are two types of reports generated by the UDOT system that are useful in this context: 

Phase Termination Monitor and Split Monitor. The Phase Termination Monitor identifies, for a 

specific intersection, the reason for termination of each phase in each cycle. An example is 
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illustrated in Figure 19. This particular report illustrates that for an entire 24 hour period, phase 4 

has run to maximum during free operation, and has been forced off by the coordinated timing 

pattern during coordination. This indicates a high probability that a detector is locked on.

The second relevant report is the Split Monitor report, illustrated in Figure 20. This report shows 

the actual phase length and reason for phase termination for a specific phase at an intersection, 

and is useful in confirming whether or not the detection is causing phases to be called and 

extended as expected for the prevailing traffic conditions.

Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 19. Graph. Termination monitor report.
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Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 20. Graph. Split monitor report.

Practical Application

There are two primary ways in which the reports are used to identify potential detection faults. 

Each day, the reports are reviewed by staff and any locations showing an unexpectedly high 

incidence of “max-out” are flagged for further review and analysis. Secondly, if a timing 

complaint is received, a report is generated from historical data to examine the patterns of phase 

time and phase termination. 

The following figures illustrate the automated signal detection reports used by UDOT. In Figure 

21, a high percentage of max-outs can be seen on two minor-street phases, during late night 

hours when max-outs should rarely occur. This wastes valuable time by reducing right-of-way 

time for the opposing movements, in particular increasing stops on the major street. It is also 

noticeable that those same phases often gap out during the daylight and early evening hours. This 

approach used a video detector, and this indicated that the detector was not coping with the 

lighting conditions during the late night. Subsequent investigation at night showed that the 

presence of a nearby streetlight and the absence of vehicles moving through the picture led to the 
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video detector incorrectly lock on for extended periods of time, and the problem was then able to 

be addressed.

The split monitor was then used to quantify the condition with the detection fault (see Figure 22), 

and then confirm that operation as expected after the condition was rectified (see Figure 23). By 

contrast, the second report shows that minor-phase max-outs no longer occur after the detection 

error has been resolved. This allows the opposing major-street through movement to regain 

access to the green time that it needs, based on its heavier traffic demand, while the minor street 

phase is rarely required.

Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 21. Graph. Phase termination by max-out at night.

Purdue University’s automated signal performance measure concepts have allowed UDOT to 

establish an efficient procedure for monitoring and maintaining detector health, which has been 

beneficial from both a reactive and a proactive standpoint. Reactively, it allows UDOT to more 

quickly and accurately identify reported problems without having to first visit the actual 

locations. Proactively, it also allows them to continuously and inexpensively monitor detector 

operations, to reduce complaints from the public. In the future UDOT hopes to further automate 
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the detection monitoring system, to automatically identify and send alerts for detection problems 

and operational problems. The UDOT system is illustrated on:

www.udottraffic.utah.gov/signalperformancemetrics

Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 22. Graph. Split monitor helped identify problem.
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Source: Utah Department of Transportation

Figure 23. Graph. Split Monitor Shows Problem Cleared.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The following people (from State, regional and local transportation agencies) generously gave 

their time to review drafts of this document and provided valuable contributions that helped to 

greatly improve its quality.

Mark Taylor, Jaime Mackey, Rob Clayton, Utah Department Of Transportation

Rafat Raie, City of Walnut Creek, CA

Nitin Deshpande, Colorado Department of Transportation

Ricky White, City of Atlanta, GA

Dave Bockhaus, Lawrence Henriquez, City of South San Francisco, CA

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Federal Highway Administration

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE

Washington, DC 20590

www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov

Toll-Free “Help Line” 866-367-7487

FHWA-HOP-15-038