Transit signal priority impacts along a fixed-time signalized arterial

The paper presents a simulation study evaluating the impacts of alternative transit priority strategies along the Columbia Pike arterial in Arlington, Virginia, for both the AM peak and midday travel periods. The priority logic that is considered provides simple green extensions and green recalls within a fixed-time traffic signal control environment. Depending on the scenario considered, vehicles receiving priority include express buses running along Columbia Pike only, both express and regular buses, and all buses traveling within the study corridor. The results of the study indicate that buses that receive priority typically benefit from such a scheme, but that these benefits may be obtained at the expense of the general traffic, particularly when the traffic demand is high. However, the study demonstrates that for low traffic demands the overall negative impacts are negligible due to the availability of spare capacity at the signalized intersection approaches.