News   Jun 28, 2024
Streetsville Centre Plaza Redevelopment Proposed North of GO Station in Mississauga
 1K     1 
News   Jun 28, 2024
GALA Developments Unveils Danny Danforth in Toronto's East End
 1K     1 
News   Jun 28, 2024
News Roundup for June 28, 2024
 491     1 

Toronto Crosstown LRT | ?m | ?s | Metrolinx | Arcadis

vz64 said:
I think a signal priority could help a bit, but it would not solve the problem of too many surface crossing... With frequency of 5 min, we have two trains passing each intersection, each 2 m 30 sec. Minus time to cross (say 15 sec) and some buffer time to change the light (another 15 sec) it leaves only 2 min. So, if traffic light is green for left turns, there is a good chance that a train will need to stop anyway and then to wait for the crossing traffic...
Click to expand...

I wonder if just smart traffic lights would help as well, especially during not busy times.

They are testing out smart traffic lights in my area (north of yonge and eg) and its really helped with the fact that this stretch of yonge has so many small intersections. In the past, the lights would change red on yonge and traffic would stop when no car or pedestrian was crossing, they just were on a timer.

Now with the smart lights, not only does it manage traffic better, but the lights on yonge never change red unless there is a car or a person wanting to cross.

Perhaps this would help the LRT line as well, for the above mentioned. Along with transit priority.

For example the smart lights use camera sensors, and would detect when there isnt a car turning left, so it would skip the left turn priority, allowing LRTs to move forward sooner, even if they get caught behind the transit priority.

The ground sensors alone arent reliable enough to do this, they still change the light to an advanced left, because sometimes they dont get tripped.

They can also do things like change a green light to red of an intersecting road faster when there are no more cars going through the intersection. So they also speed up dwell times, as you arent waiting for a light to change back to green when there are no more cars going the other way through the intersection.

All these things can help mitigate the dwell time when an LRT doesnt make it through transit priority, like in the example of another LRT ahead of it, etc.
 
Mount Dennis / keesedale / science center / Kennedy station will all be at over 80% completed this year.

The surface section will be nearly completed this year.

This line will be open before 2023 I have faith
 
robmausser said:
I wonder if just smart traffic lights would help as well, especially during not busy times.

They are testing out smart traffic lights in my area (north of yonge and eg) and its really helped with the fact that this stretch of yonge has so many small intersections. In the past, the lights would change red on yonge and traffic would stop when no car or pedestrian was crossing, they just were on a timer.

Now with the smart lights, not only does it manage traffic better, but the lights on yonge never change red unless there is a car or a person wanting to cross.

Perhaps this would help the LRT line as well, for the above mentioned. Along with transit priority.

For example the smart lights use camera sensors, and would detect when there isnt a car turning left, so it would skip the left turn priority, allowing LRTs to move forward sooner, even if they get caught behind the transit priority.

The ground sensors alone arent reliable enough to do this, they still change the light to an advanced left, because sometimes they dont get tripped.

They can also do things like change a green light to red of an intersecting road faster when there are no more cars going through the intersection. So they also speed up dwell times, as you arent waiting for a light to change back to green when there are no more cars going the other way through the intersection.

All these things can help mitigate the dwell time when an LRT doesnt make it through transit priority, like in the example of another LRT ahead of it, etc.
Click to expand...

Minor intersections throughout the entire GTA need this.
 
Aplus23 said:
Mount Dennis / keesedale / science center / Kennedy station will all be at over 80% completed this year.

The surface section will be nearly completed this year.

This line will be open before 2023 I have faith
Click to expand...
Add in Caledonia too because that station is progressing quite well too.
 
Amare said:
Sounds similar to Traffic Priority Signalling, is that what you're referring to? Or is this something completely separate?
Click to expand...

Well, I guess it depends on how you define priority signalling.

There are a lot of really good modern systems that are predictive and can account for vehicle speed, and adjust the light timing. This can't really do that. It just enables an alternate cycle when a streetcar is detected - and in some cases, the streetcar will be forced to wait for its turn.

Dan
 
smallspy said:
Well, I guess it depends on how you define priority signalling.

There are a lot of really good modern systems that are predictive and can account for vehicle speed, and adjust the light timing. This can't really do that. It just enables an alternate cycle when a streetcar is detected - and in some cases, the streetcar will be forced to wait for its turn.
Click to expand...

I don't have a very deep knowledge of the technology, but in simple terms, I would be happy if before turning yellow, the traffic circuitry asked "Is there an approaching LRV within x meters of the intersection?" and then hold off on a yellow light until the LRV has cleared.

That won't help LRV's that approach after the yellow/red cycle begins. These would still encounter delays, but they would most probably only have to sit for part of the cycle. Any time that a car squeaks through on a delayed yellow is a delay eliminated. That has to help.

A more sophisticated approach might let those late-arriving cars tell the circuitry "hey I'm coming, please start the yellow for the cross traffic so that my signal is green by the time I get there" - but I wonder if spacing allows that. The earliest that an "I'm coming" trigger is meaningful is when the LRV leaves the previous stop. I wouldn't trust signalling to predict the dwell time at the stop, as if it underestimated the dwell time, lights would be cleared for too long (holding up cross traffic autos) until the LRV actually arrives. That could play havoc with auto traffic. Any light close to the stop might not be able to cycle quickly enough to clear before the LRV arrived, so again some delay will have to happen.

Or we could apply a KISS formula - hire an army of kids to play street hockey and just shout "Car !" whenever an LRV is approaching, and let the signals work from that cue. :)

- Paul

PS - I'm quite vehement that the line needs all the traffic priority that can be applied. I'm just observing that even a good system won't be "perfect".
 
If they could time the signals for a green wave (synchronized signals), it will help a lot without any transit priority than employing all sorts of advanced techs on badly synced signals.

We all know how stupid it is for everyone to wait a minute for a major intersection just to have to watch the next minor street signal turn red cause someone wants to cross the road. That guy was waiting at the same time everyone else was stuck behind the previous signal.
 
crs1026 said:
I don't have a very deep knowledge of the technology, but in simple terms, I would be happy if before turning yellow, the traffic circuitry asked "Is there an approaching LRV within x meters of the intersection?" and then hold off on a yellow light until the LRV has cleared.

That won't help LRV's that approach after the yellow/red cycle begins. These would still encounter delays, but they would most probably only have to sit for part of the cycle. Any time that a car squeaks through on a delayed yellow is a delay eliminated. That has to help.
Click to expand...

The same system is applied to other streets downtown - Queen, and formerly King are two that I recall, and the other streetcar routes I'm less certain of - to hold a green light if a car is sitting at a stop at that particular intersection.

But can it do both? No. Because of how the system is triggered, it is either or.

crs1026 said:
A more sophisticated approach might let those late-arriving cars tell the circuitry "hey I'm coming, please start the yellow for the cross traffic so that my signal is green by the time I get there" - but I wonder if spacing allows that. The earliest that an "I'm coming" trigger is meaningful is when the LRV leaves the previous stop. I wouldn't trust signalling to predict the dwell time at the stop, as if it underestimated the dwell time, lights would be cleared for too long (holding up cross traffic autos) until the LRV actually arrives. That could play havoc with auto traffic. Any light close to the stop might not be able to cycle quickly enough to clear before the LRV arrived, so again some delay will have to happen.
Click to expand...

These systems exist. But the Transportation Department seems to be vehemently against them. Their mantra is that they are there to move cars, and damn anything else that gets in their way. The TTC needs to fight any time they try and add any sort of system that would benefit them - or even a set of signals to help them exit a station loop.

Dan
 
The way the signal priority works on King right now is quite good - if that type of priority was available on Eglinton, I think it would be fine. Not 100% priority, but certainly significant.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top