The objective of this project is to develop,
implement, and test a portable training course for traffic signal
timing, including equipment, training materials, and educated
instructors.
Task 1. Establish a technical oversight committee that would
provide project oversight and oversee the development of the
training materials. The oversight committee will include from
eight to ten members and provide both a geographic and
organizational balance. The committee will include
representatives from the Federal Highway Administration, a state
department of transportation, both a large and small city, and a
university.
Task 2. Identify and establish a Community of Learners, a
group of university faculty and other interested professionals
who are interested in reviewing and testing the materials that
are developed during this project. It is expected that this
community will include between five and ten university faculty
from around the U.S. who have active research or educational
programs in traffic signal systems and operations.
Task 3. Prepare and maintain the project web site. This web
site will serve as the repository for all materials developed
during the project as well as all progress reports and related
materials. The web site will be maintained and updated
throughout the project.
Task 4. Prepare a set of guidance documents that form the
basis for the development of the case studies and related course
materials. These guidance documents will include (1) a
description of the signal timing design process including
definition of terms and concepts, a list of key issues that must
be considered in the design process, and a list of timing
parameters that will be considered, (2) a set of learning
objectives that describe the skills and competencies that
students will be expected to have upon completion of courses in
which the materials are used, (3) a set of guidelines that
describe architecture and requirements for all case study
materials, and (4) a technical memorandum that addresses the
kinds of traffic controllers and traffic analysis software that
will be used in the case study materials. Although this effort
will use vendor equipment, in order to ensure the fundamental
educational concepts are vendor neutral, all design parameters
will be specified according to the data objects defined in NTCIP
1202:1996 (formerly TS 3.5-1996). This will have several
important benefits. First it will provide participants with a
dictionary of terms that have an accepted industry definition.
Second, it will provide an opportunity to critically review the
NTCIP standard to ensure all necessary data items are provided
and those that are provided are not ambiguous. Third, once the
modules are complete and used with practitioners, practitioners
will gain insight into the benefits the NTCIP standard can
provide.
Task 5. Conduct review of guidance documents with technical
oversight committee. Comments from the committee will be
incorporated into a final version of these documents.
Task 6. Based on the guidance documents developed in Task 4,
develop a prototype case study for each of the three target
groups, university students, engineering professionals, and
engineering technicians.
Task 7. Conduct review of prototype case studies with
technical oversight committee. The comments of the committee
will be used for the development of the final materials to be
undertaken in Task 9.
Task 8. Design and construct prototype portable equipment
module. This prototype will be designed so that it is portable
and can be easily transported to remote sites where workshops or
short courses will be held using the materials developed as part
of this project. The prototype will be reviewed by the technical
oversight committee; suggestions made during this review will be
incorporated into the final equipment module design undertaken
in Task 10.
Task 9. Prepare final set of instructional materials and case
studies for the three target groups described above (university
students, engineering professionals, and engineering
technicians). Case studies will include (1) an isolated
intersection, (2) a corridor or network of signalized
intersections that require signal coordination, (3) a diamond
interchange or two closely spaced intersections. The materials
will include a student notebook with all input data sets and
materials, an instructor notebook with all supporting material,
and electronic materials to support both students and
instructors.
Task 10. Design and construct final portable equipment
modules. The design will be based on the prototype module
designed and reviewed during Task 8.
Task 11. Review instructional materials and case studies with
technical oversight committee. Based on this review, a final set
of instructional materials and case studies will be prepared.
Task 12. Pilot test instructional materials and case studies
with each of three target groups. Document the results of this
pilot test and identify changes to the course materials
generated from this pilot test.
Task 13. Conduct second round of classroom testing of
instructional materials and case studies. Document the results
of these tests. This second round of testing will include the
recruitment and instruction of regional trainers and mentors
that will be designated to conduct courses in the geographic
regions or local areas that they represent.
Task 14. Conduct twelve workshops in selected areas of the
Pacific Northwest and in Indiana. It is expected that these
workshops will reach over 100 students. The results of these
workshops will be documented and included as part of the final
report to be prepared in Task 15.
Task 15. Prepare final report. The final report will include
instructional materials and case studies as well as a summary of
findings and recommendations based on all earlier project tasks.
Funding for this project from the Federal Highway Administration
is $705,274.
