Adaptive Signal Control

Evaluation Overview

The evaluation team examined the effect of FHWA’s Adaptive Signal Control (ASC) Program on developing ASC technologies (ASCTs) and adoption of ASC by State and local agencies. ASC improves upon conventional traffic signal systems by adjusting signal timing parameters to accommodate variability in demand using current traffic data. FHWA’s ASC Program spanned over 20 years and supported both the development and deployment of ASCs in the United States.

Evaluation Results

Some of the main findings of the evaluation included:

• ASCT implementation influenced by the ASC Program yielded measurable improvements in time savings for travelers.
• FHWA’s Every Day Counts (EDC) efforts encouraged technology developers, vendors, and distributors to advance their ASCT programs.
• FHWA and EDC resources support ASCT adoption at all stages of the adoption process.

Recommendations

A key recommendation was that while focusing on technical issues, there should be consideration of and planning for longer-term issues of market acceptance and deployment. It is important to ancitipate implementation needs and potential barriers to technology acceptance (e.g., system costs, detection costs, complexity) up front and learn how those needs and barriers change over time.

Traffic Incident Management Responder Training Program

Evaluation Overview

The evaluation team assessed FHWA’s National Traffic Incident Management (TIM) Responder Training Program. The program was deployed by FHWA with support from the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) and the Every Day Counts (EDC) Program. The evaluation team assessed the effectiveness of the SHRP2 TIM Responder Training Program in disseminating TIM concepts to a wide incident-respondent community, enhancing agency practices, and positively impacting key TIM performance metrics.

Evaluation Results

Some of the main findings of the evaluation included:

• SHRP2 TIM trainings contributed to a steady decline in secondary incidents that killed or injured emergency responders in Metropolitan Phoenix and Tennessee Region 1.
• More than 125,000 emergency responders attended TIM trainings between 2012 and 2015.
• The SHRP2 TIM Responder Training Program was praised for bringing together emergency responders from a wide variety of disciplines.

Completed evaluation reports can be viewed at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/general/18042/index.cfm.