Calibration of the SIDRA capacity analysis package for South African traffic conditions

Abstract

M.Phil. (Civil Engineering)The SIDRA (Signalised Intersection Design and Research Aid) is calibrated for South African traffic conditions. Traditionally, South African traffic engineers made use of American or Australian based information to analyze traffic operations at signalised intersections. Two major models used in South Africa are HCM (Highway Capacity Manual) by the Transportation Research Board in the USA and SIDRA by the Australian Road Research Board. SIDRA is gaining popularity in South Africa because of the practical problems of the mirror image, which has to be maintained in using the HCM method due to the right side driving in the USA and other possible differences on driver behavior, vehicle attributes, geometric design and traffic control. SIDRA seems to be more suitable for South African conditions. Recently the use of SIDRA in this country has been increased to 44 organizations. This study aims to prepare a unified default file for South African users. Due to the large number of model parameters in SIDRA, priority is given to important ones for which information is readily available. And this study is confined to signalised intersections rather than all intersection types