Two Phase At-Grade Enhanced Intersection "2pi" System created by: Belisario Hernandez Romo P.E., Ph.D. P.T.O.E., Ph. 858-3668128 All directional traffic movements plus pedestrian crossings are negotiated at the intersection in two phases per semaphore controlled cycle. Capacity is increased at least 200% bhromo@yahoo.com

1. Tra Met Corp. Metropolitan Traffic Corporation Presents: The Super Street Concept “Two Phase At-Grade System” Copyright 2003 MetTra Corp.

2. Arthur Hale’s Cloverleaf AASHTO Belisario H. Romo’s Tra Met Corp. Evolution of Interchange Design Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

3. The Problem Today Can we afford to wait? Tra Met Corp. Today, in our mobility oriented world, serious congestion and gridlock is widespread. The ideal “freeway” mode has disappeared! Most freeways are saturated, and they are indeed NOT free. Ideally vehicles should ride freely, without delays from entrance to exit. The clogged freeway is frustrating. Everybody knows is cramped and slow, but, WHY?..... Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

4. Failed example to solve mobility At this rate there will be no city left to go to. Motorists became disenchanted with the freeway dream. Tra Met Corp. The Katy Freeway is congested more than 11 hours per weekday, usually in both directions. Morning rush hour averages 16 mph. It is already so slow that people avoid it! This is the result of injecting 60 percent of the traffic onto 2 percent of road surface! Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

5. Analysis… Tra Met Corp. At rush hours 60 percent of traffic is force into 2 percent of freeways road surface. The streets, 98% of road surface, works at 25% capacity. There is a traffic light at the entrance or exit of a freeway ramp. Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

6. Analysis… Tra Met Corp. For decades traffic engineers have transplanted the design philosophies developed for intercity freeways to the quite different conditions of the city. Were new design criteria is essential. Requirements of high speed design truly do not apply to urban areas. Saving time by increasing speed is not relevant in urban traffic conditions because average trip distance is significantly shorter. Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

7. Travel Times Savings (in minutes) Travel Times Savings (in minutes) Travel Times Savings Only………. Travel Times Savings Only………. Tra Met Corp. Analysis.... Increasing average speeds from 5 mph to 35 mph on an 5 mile trip would save 51.4 minutes travel time. Increasing average speeds from 35 mphto 80 mph will reduce travel time by only 4.8 minutes. Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

8. Analysis.... Tra Met Corp. Urban freeways, reduce travel time by insignificant amounts, take decades to complete, decimates the city and create gridlock by concentrating the bulk of traffic in less road surface (2%.) Better returns can be obtained by investing thesemassive sums in more advanced designs snatching back the full capacity of the other 98% of available road surface, the streets network, thus obtaining greater benefit to cost ratio and increase capacity for the new millennium. We at Metropolitan Traffic Corporation concluded that in order to achieve sustainable mobility in urban areas, one goal has to be meet. Solve the simple street crossing. The basic cell of the network. We succeeded! Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

9. Tra Met Corp. It's Time to Try New Ideas... Enter The Super Street Concept Evolution The Past The Future Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

10. State of the Art 1980 Tra Met Corp. Evolution of the concept Initial Design: The Highway Crossing In the beginning our main objective was to improve the highway interchange. Reducing the number of levels required to obtain 4 left turns and the 4 trough traffic. Save land and reduce significantly the cost to almost 40% We succeeded! We manage to produce a design that only requires 2 levels to obtain all movements required. Saves 30% of the land required by the 4 leveled design And more importantly saves cost and time to implement it. Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

11. State of the Art 1985 Tra Met Corp. Evolution of the concept Second Design: Continuous Urban Interchange It was only natural to scale the highway interchange to obtain this concept. We finally were able to offer a complete featured interchange within the urban network of streets. The City of Phoenix, Az., order us to evaluate this conceptual design for the Camelback Road corridor. Although mechanically efficient the cost remain a concern when a number of intersections were considered. It was at this point, that, in an effort to reduce the cost we decided to manage the left turns with traffic lights controls instead of depressed access ramps. The result was…………… unexpected! Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

12. State of the Art 1987 Tra Met Corp. Evolution of the concept Final Design: Two Phase At-Grade Intersection This flattened interchange became the most efficient traffic design ever to solve the nemesis of traffic: the left turns ! In fact we found that it was feasible to operate with only two phases per cycle in a same plane. By parallelizing and synchronizing 2 trough traffics, 2 left turns, 2 right turns and 2 pedestrian movements per phase. Reducing the number of phases at the intersection also allows to operate the intersection at maximum capacity. Among other benefits: Reduces atmospheric emissions and noise. Cleaner air. Increases capacity by 100% at the intersections. Coordination and synchronization is greatly improved. Cycles are shorter delay are reduced to a few seconds. Pedestrians are safer enjoying full phase to cross. Can be implemented in record time, is economical, urban and environmental friendly. Improves property values. No structures are necessary. Corridors can be upgrade to work in two phases: The Super Street ! Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

13. Tra Met Corp. The Two Phase At-Grade Intersection Mechanics "The next green light is always your green light" Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.

14. Tra Met Corp. Is Gridlock Avoidable? The technology to avoid gridlock exist. Putting it together to solve traffic congestion requires geometrical innovations at the intersections. Mode separation is required primarily to achieve: Organized traffic operations Systemic multimodal connections. More capacity out of the network of city streets. Efficient detection, control and management. The mixing of transportation modes is a major contributor in the generation of gridlock. Mass transit systems, private transportation and cargo are incompatibles because: Operative Speed Turning radius Required stops Size Passenger number Copyright © 2002 Belisario H. Romo / Mettracorp. All rights reserved.