KAI's Transportation Education Series provides interactive presentation sessions intended to promote professional development and advancements in transportation engineering and planning.
Worldwide, there is growing recognition and concern surrounding the impacts of human activity on the planet’s ecosystem. A broad spectrum of interests including political leaders, scientists, environmental experts, and individuals are seeking to reduce sources of global warming, and the transportation engineering/planning industry is being called to contribute solutions.
Providing increased efficiencies within existing pavement is a challenge facing many agencies who are at the same time working with constrained budgets. Efficient operation of traffic signals is an area where driver delay and emissions benefits can be realized. Relatively straight-forward activities such as optimizing traffic signal timing and choosing appropriate phasing can be made at both existing and new traffic signals to minimize delay and, in doing so, reduce emissions.
The Flashing Yellow Arrow protected/permissive left-turn (FYA PPLT) signal display is a relatively new traffic control device in the transportation engineering professions’ toolbox. The safety and operational benefits of the FYA display are well documented and the public reception has almost universally been positive. Agencies implementing FYA PPLT control are benefiting from both delay and emissions reductions.
Use of the Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) at signalized intersections is a safe, low-cost approach to reducing delay and greenhouse gas emissions. This presentation highlights benefits and considerations supporting the use of FYA protected-permissive left-turn (PPLT) signal control. A brief overview of the FYA PPLT control is presented along with key implementation considerations. Washington County, Oregon’s effort to implement FYA PPLT at 372 locations is then profiled through a case study that offers a sampling of the relative delay and greenhouse gas emissions reduction achieved. This information should be of particular interest to agencies exploring use of FYA PPLT control.
Session attendees can expect to learn about:
• The difference between Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) & green ball indications, as well as design considerations;
• Benefits of converting from Protected to FYA left-turns;
• Lessons learned from the Washington County experience;
• Advanced signal control features to make permissive FYA’s safer and smarter;
• Videos and case study discussions on the topic of FYA; and
• An extended period for group discussion…come get your questions answered!
The TES workshop will start promptly at 12:30pm and will run until 2:30pm on Wednesday, November 9th. There is no cost to attend this session and the workshop is equal to 2.0 professional development hours (PDH). Lunch will be provided.
If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact Dave Mills, the Portland Office Manager, at (503) 535-7482. We hope you can join us for this informative workshop on this fun and engaging topic.
Stacy Shetler, PE Acting Principal Engineer, Washington County, Oregon
Stacy is an engineer at Washington County, Oregon, who has over 12 years experience in the transportation field. His experiences include adaptive signal timing system implementations such as SCATS and InSync as well as overseeing projects to implement FYA at numerous locations. Stacy commissioned and helped co-develop custom FYA-ped friendly logic that is being implemented on county facilities.
Shaun Quayle, PE Senior Engineer, Kittelson & Associates, Inc., Portland, Oregon
Shaun is a senior engineer with Kittelson and Associates, Inc., who has over 8 years experience in traffic signal systems and traffic operations. His experiences include signal timing optimization projects in numerous states, including advanced signal applications such as gap-dependent FYA settings, co-development of custom FYA-ped friendly logic, and numerous FYA implementations and evaluations.
Hermanus Steyn, PE Associate Engineer, Kittelson & Associates, Inc., Portland, Oregon
Hermanus Steyn’s wide range of civil engineering experience over 18 years brings sound engineering judgment to exceptionally large and complex projects. He has experience in a variety of transportation studies, with focus on the conceptual and detailed geometric design of all types of roadways from local streets to freeways. He has developed master plans for road networks, including airport traffic circulation, corridor studies, and access management. In addition, he has prepared final traffic design and roadway plans, special provisions, and cost estimates on engineering projects. He has also conducted traffic impact analyses for a variety of developments that have addressed safety issues, access management, and on-site circulation. In addition, Hermanus serves as a trainer regularly educating other professionals, and has been the co-presenter for the following training sessions; 2-day Geometry Design Course, 2-day Traffic Signal Design Course, 2-day Applied Roundabout Design Course, 1-day Safety Oriented Workshop, and 2-hour Roundabout Workshops.