Recently, walking has gained attention as an environmentally and economicallysustainable transportation mode. While, the increased focus on pedestrians has led toinfrastructure and safety related improvements, little attention has been paid tooptimizing the transportation system for their benefit. This paper summarizes the findingsof a pilot study that was designed to explore strategies for reducing pedestrian delay atsignalized intersections. The two chosen study locations included one half-signal and afull signalized intersection in Portland, Oregon. While the objective of these strategieswas to enable the traffic signal to be more responsive to pedestrian needs, the broaderobjective is to develop settings that can be used at other locations. Changes to signaltiming parameters such as the mode of signal operation and the permissive length werestudied at the two locations, and the resulting effects on pedestrian delay were quantified.Setting a coordinated signal free during the off-peak traffic periods and increasing thepermissive length have both resulted in decreasing pedestrian delay. The techniquesdescribed in this paper are also applicable for signalized intersections where low volumeside streets intersect high volume major arterials. The findings from this study will alsoinform practitioners in determining treatments that are consistent with the policies of theiragency.
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