One of the main difficulties in the development of urban traffic microsimulation models is the collection of traffic data for calibration and validation. However, the city of Fortaleza has an important mesosimulation tool that, in addition to controlling urban traffic in real time, estimates traffic variables: the well-known SCOOT system. This system, implemented in cities around the world, controls and estimates traffic in the densest urban area of Fortaleza, based on the continuous detection of vehicle occupation on its more than 900 detectors spread throughout the city. However, because these data are simulated, they require validation before being used. The main aim of this work was to develop and implement a methodology to validate the mesoscopic simulation model of SCOOT, so its data can be used in the development of traffic microsimulation models, having as a case-study the system operating in Fortaleza. Based on experiments, the effects of two factors in the estimation error were investigated: the calibration of the parameter SATO, and the average travel time between the loop detector and the stop-bar. The results show that these two factors affect the quality of the prediction of volume, delay and number of vehicle-stops. These results contribute with a validation methodology that allows a better use of the data provided by SCOOT. / Um das maiores dificuldades na construÃÃo de redes viÃrias urbanas microssimuladas reside na coleta dos dados de trÃfego para as fases de calibraÃÃo e validaÃÃo. PorÃm, a cidade de Fortaleza dispÃe de uma importante ferramenta de mesossimulaÃÃo que, alÃm de controlar o trÃfego urbano em tempo real, estima indicadores de trÃfego: sistema SCOOT â Split Cycle Offset Optmisation Technique. Este sistema, implantado em vÃrias cidades do mundo, controla e modela o trÃfego na regiÃo mais adensada da Ãrea urbana de Fortaleza, baseando-se na coleta contÃnua de ocupaÃÃo veicular sobre os seus mais de 900 laÃos detectores espalhados pela cidade. No entanto, por se tratar de valores simulados, carecem de verificaÃÃo antes de serem utilizados. O objetivo geral deste trabalho à desenvolver e implementar uma metodologia para validaÃÃo do modelo de simulaÃÃo mesoscÃpica do SCOOT, tendo em vista o uso de seus dados no desenvolvimento de modelos de microssimulaÃÃo do trÃfego, tendo como estudo de caso o sistema em operaÃÃo em Fortaleza. Por meio de experimentos, foram investigados os efeitos de dois fatores no erro de estimaÃÃo: a calibraÃÃo do parÃmetro SATO e o tempo de percurso mÃdio entre o laÃo detector e a faixa de retenÃÃo. Os resultados mostram que estes dois fatores afetam a qualidade da modelagem das variÃveis volume, atraso veicular e nÃmero de paradas. Os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem no sentido de oferecer uma metodologia de validaÃÃo que permita um melhor uso dos dados fornecidos pelo SCOOT.

Cities worldwide are faced with the challenge of improving transit service in urban areas using lower cost means. Transit signal priority is considered to be one of the most effective ways to improve the service of transit vehicles. Transit signal priority has become a very popular topic in transportation in the past 20 to 30 years and it has been implemented in many places around the world. In this thesis, transit signal priority strategies are categorized and an extensive literature review on past research on transit signal priority is conducted. Then a case study on Columbia Pike in Arlington (including 21 signalized intersections) is conducted to assess the impacts of integrating transit signal priority and SCOOT adaptive signal control. At the end of this thesis, an isolated intersection is designed to analyze the sensitivity of major parameters on performance of the network and transit vehicles. The results of this study indicate that the prioritized vehicles usually benefit from any priority scheme considered. During the peak period, the simulations clearly indicate that these benefits are typically obtained at the expense of the general traffic. While buses experience reductions in delay, stops, fuel consumption, and emissions, the opposite typically occurs for the general traffic. Furthermore, since usually there are significantly more cars than buses, the negative impacts experienced by the general traffic during this period outweigh in most cases the benefits to the transit vehicles, thus yielding overall negative impacts for the various priority schemes considered. For the off-peak period, there are no apparent negative impacts, as there is more spare capacity to accommodate approaching transit vehicles at signalized intersections without significantly disrupting traffic operations. It is also shown in this study that it is generally difficult to improve the system-wide performance by using transit priority when the signal is already optimized according to generally accepted traffic flow criteria. In this study it is also observed that the system-wide performance decreases rapidly when transit dwell time gets longer. / Master of Science