Capacity Estimation at All-Way Stop-Controlled Intersections Considering Pedestrian Crossing Effects

All-way stop-controlled (AWSC) intersections are a typical type of unsignalized intersection that has been commonly used when both intersecting roads have a relatively low vehicular traffic demand. At an AWSC intersection, vehicles proceed through the intersection under a first come, first served rule. Since AWSC intersections are often deployed in residential or business areas where pedestrian crossings tend to be inevitable. When a driver who has the right-of-way yields to the crossing pedestrians, the right-of-way at the intersection might be reallocated, which could result in capacity losses to the current approach. On the other hand, the conflicting vehicular traffic movement(s) to the current approach may use this gap and proceed through the intersection ahead of this vehicle. Nevertheless, the effects of pedestrian crossings at AWSCs have not been considered by the existing capacity modeling methods. This research develops a method to evaluate the capacity changes caused by pedestrian crossings at AWSC intersections. Field data collected at two representative sites were collected for model calibration and validation. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to reveal the combined effects of different pedestrian crossing movements and under various pedestrian crossing demands. Results indicated that pedestrian crossing movements could change the capacity at AWSC intersections, but the effects vary according to pedestrian activities and vehicle directions.

Automated summary

All-way stop-controlled intersections are commonly used for low traffic demand roads. This research investigates the impact of pedestrian crossings on the capacity of AWSC intersections, finding that the effects vary depending on pedestrian activities and vehicle directions.