Characterizing Signalized Intersection Performance Using Maximum Vehicle Delay

Average delay is perhaps the most commonly used measure for characterizing the performance of signalized intersections. Current methodologies for estimating the average delay rely on the use of models based on volumes and green times. In practice, it is challenging to develop such real-time measurements of delay, due to the difficulty of accurately measuring vehicle arrivals and departures. However, measuring wait time after the first vehicle arrival during the red interval can be an important performance measure for low and moderate volume conditions. The maximum wait time performance measure provides an upper bound, or maximum, on individual vehicle delay during a given cycle and facilitates comparison between different types of operation.