Road User Understanding of Bicycle Signal Faces on Traffic Signals (2020)

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Appendix B – Data Collection Protocol B-1 

NCHRP 20-07 TASK 420 TASK 2 BIKE SIGNAL DATA COLLECTION Version March 23, 2019 This document describes the data collection procedure for gathering information pertaining to bicycle signals. For the intersections where the Google Streetview images are available, the following data elements described below and highlighted in blue need to collected. It consists of two sheets - 1) Intersection and 2) Approach and Signal Face. The observer has to fill out the columns highlighted in blue in this document. The observer should also download ImageJ from here. This is a Java-based program that does not require installation and can run on a drive that you have local access to save files. Overview: 1. Select an intersection to collect data, change its status to “In Progress”. For intersections in “corridor” sample a subset of these intersections. 2. Navigate to the Google Maps satellite view and Google Streetview links to explore and find the bicycle signal faces. Identify how many approaches are controlled by bicycle signals and how many bicycle signal faces are present. 3. Complete the data collection for data elements highlighted blue in this document for each approach and bicycle signal face 4. Upload plan view image to Google drive, format: Intersection ID_City_State_Plan 5. Upload profile view image to Google drive, format: Intersection ID_ApproachLegDirection_City_STATE_IntName 6. Change intersection status to “Complete” or “Questions” if you need some data element reviewed by a senior team member. Be sure to note what your question is in the NOTES field on the APPROACH tab. INTERSECTION TAB 1. Data Collection Status: When you are ready to start an intersection, select “In Progress” so that others know you are working on this intersection. 2. Intersection ID: This is a unique ID for each intersection. Each intersection in the list has been numbered sequentially. This has already been pre-filled. 3. Corridor or Not: This describes whether the intersection is part of a corridor or not. This information has already been pre-filled. 4. Intersection City: This field describes the city where the intersection is located. This field has also been pre-filled. 5. Intersection State: This field lists the state where the intersection is located. This field has also been pre-filled. 6. Intersection Primary Street: Name of the Primary street on which the bicycle signal is located. This field has also been pre-filled. B-2 

7. Intersection Cross Street: Name of the Cross street at the intersection where the bicycle signal is located. This field has also been pre-filled. 8. Latitude: Latitude of the intersection where the bike signal is located. This field has also been pre-filled. 9. Longitude: Longitude of the intersection where the bike signal is located. This field has also been pre-filled. 10. Link to Point Map: The link shows the satellite view of the intersection where the bike signal is located. The satellite image is useful for measuring the distances (i.e. Visibility distance to far side bike signal in the Approach and Signal Face sheet). This field has also been pre-filled. 11. Google StreetView Link: This link leads to the Google Streetview view of the intersection where the bike signal is located. This field has been pre-filled if it is available. If the Google Streetview showing the bike signal is not available and this field is left blank, then skip the intersection and move on to the next one in the list. 12. Phasing Operation: This field indicates the phasing for the bicycle movements. This cannot be collected from Google Streetview, skip this column. Some of the cells have been pre-filled. Do not fill this field or change information that is already present. 13. Type of Bicycle Crossing: Select all of the bicycle crossings present at the intersection from the drop-down list – One-way, two-way, multi-use path, multi-use path to one-way crossing, two-way to one-way. For some rows, it has been pre-filled. For others, the senior researchers will complete. 14. Date/Year of Installation: This field has been pre-filled if it is available. To determine the installation year, note the year when the bike signal is first seen in Streetview. In some cases, it may be possible to note down the exact year (especially if the Google Streetview images are available at regular intervals). In other cases, it may only be possible to narrow it down to a time period (e.g. 2014-2017). In such a case, note the last year when the bike signal is not seen in Streetview and the first year when the bike signal is seen. APPROACH & SIGNAL FACE TAB The following data elements should be collected only if a Google Streetview view link is available. Each column contains information about the approach leg and data about any bicycle signal faces. There may be multiple approaches with bicycle signals. It is best to explore in Streetview to determine how many approaches have bicycle signal faces before you start entering data. 1. Observer: Enter the initials of the observer reviewing the intersection. 2. Intersection ID: Enter the unique ID for the intersection from the Intersection tab. If you know there are multiple approaches, “reserve” the necessary columns by typing in the ID for each approach before you complete the remaining data collection. 3. Approach Leg Direction: Enter the direction of the approach leg which has the bike signal from the dropdown list. The image below shows the possible options at an intersection, which are N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, and SW. This can be determined from Google maps. B-3 

4. Number of Bicycle Signal Heads per Approach: Use Google Streetview to observe the number of bicycle signal heads for each approach. An approach is defined as an intersection leg. Typically, an approach will have one or two bicycle signal heads. In the first image below, there are two bike signals for the same approach, both on the far side. In the second image, there are two bike signals for the same approach, one near side and one far side. If there is only one bike signal for an approach, it is typically placed on the far side of the intersection. Bike Signal Bike Signal Bike Signal Bike Signal B-4 

5. Number of Vehicular Signal Heads per Approach: For each approach that has bike signals, note the number of vehicular signals on that same approach. For example, in the image below, there are 3 vehicular signal heads on the approach that has 2 bike signal heads. Vehicular Signal Heads 6. Number of Vehicular Signal Faces by Signal Head: Note the number of signal faces for each signal head moving from left to right. Signals typically have, 3, 4 or 5 faces. In the image above, each of the vehicular signal heads has three faces, so one would enter 3,3,3. 7. Visibility Distance to Far Side Bicycle Signal Face: Using the satellite view (click on the column “Link to Point Map” in the Intersection tab). Zoom in and use the measuring tool in Google to measure the distance from the stop bar (often also the crosswalk line) to the far side bicycle signal face. The measuring tool is accessed by right clicking in the map and selecting “Measure Distance”. An example is shown the image below. If there are more than 1 far side signal heads, measure to the nearest. Round to the nearest foot in reporting measurement. The objective is to describe how far away the signal head is for the bicyclist. B-5 

Visibility distance N Location of the bicycle signal face Stop bar location for bicycles 8. Lane Type for Bicycle Traffic: Note the bicycle lane type for the approach. ● Bicycle lane means that the lane is only for bicycles (bicycle markings in the lane). ● Shared path means that the person on a bicycle sees the signal face from a path. ● Share lane means that both bicycles and vehicles can use the lane (should not exist). 9. Direction of Bicycle Traffic: Select if the bicycle traffic on the approach is one-way or two-way. If it is two-way, there will be a yellow centerline and indications that bicycles can travel in both directions as shown in the picture: B-6 

10. Direction of Motor Vehicle Traffic: Select if the motor vehicle traffic on the approach is one- way or two-way. If no MV traffic on approach, code NA. 11. Lane Utilization for Vehicle Traffic in the Same Direction: Note the number and type of vehicular lanes on the approach excluding the bike lane. Bike lane is 0. Lanes to the left of the bike lane should be denoted by (-) followed by a number (1,2,3; lane next to the bike lane is 1 and so on), followed by the direction (L=left, T=thru, R=right). Lanes to the right of the bike lane should be denoted as +, followed by a number (1,2,3; lane next to the bike lane is 1 and so on), followed by the direction (L=left, T=thru, R=right). In the first image below, there are two lanes left of the bike lane that are denoted as -1TR, and - 2L. In the second image, there is one lane on either side of the bike lane. The lane to the right of the bike lane is denoted as 1R, and the lane left to the bike lane is denoted as -1LT. B-7 

-1TR Bike Lane -2L Bike 1R Lane -1TL B-8 

SIGNAL FACE DATA Next for each signal face on each approach, record the following data elements. The signal face data should be recorded directly below the approach data, in the same column. If an approach has two signal faces, first enter the information for signal face 1, followed by signal face 2. 1. Intersection ID: Cell formula links to previous entry, no entry needed 2. Approach Leg Direction: Cell formula links to previous entry, no entry needed 3. Signal Face ID: Enter a Unique ID for each signal face per approach. Number sequentially using 1 – far side primary bicycle signal face and 2 – near side bicycle signal face. If there is a second far side head, this will be signal face 3. The first image below shows two bicycle signals with 1- far side, and 2-near side. The second image shows two far side bicycle signals, with 1 -right far side bike signal and 2-left far side bike signal. 2 1 1 2 Note there is a near side head at this location not shown in photo B-9 

4. Are Arrows used in Bicycle Signal Face? Most bicycle signal heads will have 3 faces with the R-Y-G bicycle symbol in them. Enter YES if it has 4 faces (one must be an arrow) or if you can see a green arrow illuminated in the bottom face. If you can see image with GREEN bicycle symbol and the signal is 3 faces, enter NO. Otherwise select “UNK”. 5. Placement Far Side or Near Side: For each bicycle signal face, note if it is placed on the near side (NS) or far side (FS). The image below shows near side and far side bike signals. NS FS B-10 

6. Placement - Left, Center or Right of Bicycle Lane: Note if the bike signal face is placed left or right of the bicycle lane. In the first image below, both far side bike signals are placed left of the bike lane. In the second image, the far side bike signal is to the right of the bicycle lane. Left Left Bike Lane Right Bike Lane B-11 

7. Placement -Over Roadway or Sidewalk Path: Note if the bike signal is placed over roadway (OR) or over the sidewalk/path (OS/P). In the image first below, the bike signal is placed over the sidewalk path. In the second, it is over the roadway. Over Sidewalk Over roadway B-12 

8. Does the bicycle signal have a back plate? Note “Y” if the bicycle signal has a back plate and “N” if no. Backplate 9. Is signal housing or backplate a different color than vehicle heads? Note Y if the bicycle signal housing or back plate is a different color than the vehicle heads and “N” if they are the same color. For example, in the image below, since the bicycle signal housing is yellow and the vehicle signals are black, “Y” should be selected. In the second image below, since the bike signal housing is the same color as the vehicular signals, select “N”. Yes, since the bicycle signal is yellow and the vehicular signals are black. B-13 

No, since bicycle signal heads are the same color as vehicle heads. 10. Presence of R10-10b sign: For each bike signal using Google Streetview, note if a bike signal sign is present (see images below). Mark “Y” if the sign is present, and “N” if not. In the first image below, a bike signal sign is visible, so mark “Y”. In the second image, the sign is absent, so select “N”. If an alternate sign or wording is presented that Yes, the sign is present (but it is small you might make a note of this in the “notes” field B-14 

No sign is present 11. Presence of louvers or visibility restricting device on bicycle signal face: Louvers are used on bicycle signals to prevent motorists from seeing the bicycle specific signal indications from other lanes. For each bike signal, using Google Streetview, mark “Y” if you can see louvers or visibility restricting device is present on the bicycle signal face. Mark “N” if you can tell from the image that louvers are not present. Zooming into the bicycle signal can help in determining the presence of louvers. Select “UNK” otherwise. This element may be difficult to collect. If you are not sure, select “UNK” N, since you can see the symbol clearly B-15 

12. Lens diameter: Estimate the diameter of the lens for each bicycle signal. For US installations, the diameter of the near side signal lens can be 4”, 8” or 12”. The far side signal face is typically 8” or 12”. If you have a good photo, you may be able to measure this (see final section). If you are unsure, leave blank and others will complete. 13. For the PRIMARY Far-Side Signal Heads Only - Measuring mounting height and offset distances For the following metrics, using Google Streetview view link, navigate to each approach with bike signal. It is important that the photo is as orthogonal as possible for the dimensions we are attempting measure. Once you have identified the “best” view of the signal faces to be measured, use screen capture or the “Snipping Tool” in Windows to save the image. Save the image with Intersection ID_ApproachLegDirection_City_State_IntName as the file name. For example, if you are saving N leg of intersection ID 100, the file name will be 100_N_Portland_OR_BroadwayVictoria.jpg. If no measurements can be obtained due to poor image or positioning options, enter an “X” in the measurement fields and complete a brief note in the “NOTES” field. 14. Bicycle signal face mounting height (bottom of signal to ground): Measure the height from the bottom of the bicycle signal face to the ground (A in the image below). Measure to/from the edge of backplate or housing. Round dimension to nearest foot. 15. Horizontal separation between nearest vehicular signal face & bicycle signal face: Measure the distance between the nearest vehicular signal face and bicycle signal face (B in the image below). Measure to/from the edge of backplate or housing. Round dimension to nearest foot. If signal heads are adjacent, enter <1 ft. 16. Vertical separation between nearest vehicular signal face & bicycle signal face: Measure the distance between the nearest vehicular signal face and bicycle signal face (C in the image below).Measure to/from the edge of backplate or housing. Round dimension to nearest foot. If signal heads are adjacent, enter <1 ft. B-16 

C B A To obtain these measurements, open the saved image(s) of the intersection in ImageJ. Use Google Satellite view to measure a distance for each photo/saved image. Identify a reference distance is in the same plane as the dimension to measure that you can measure in the satellite image to set the scale. Lane markings are the easiest. Try to keep the length of the reference line to between 10 and 20 feet to avoid distortion errors. In the example photo above, the width of the bicycle lane plus the adjacent motor vehicle lane is a good option. Below is an example for the intersection of NE Broadway St and NE Victoria Ave in Portland, OR with this dimension measured in Google maps. Use the snipping tool to copy this image. Save the file as INTID_City_STATE_PLAN (e.g. 1960_Portland_OR_Plan). B-17 

This dimension was measured as the reference dimension. 16.96 feet Open Image J. You will see a toolbar open as shown in the image below. Open the file that you just saved. Using the line tool, draw a line on the distance you measured in satellite view as the reference distance. Then, navigate to Analyze-Set Scale. Enter the distance you measured in the “Known Distance” box. Global sets the scale for all images until you close ImageJ or reset the scale. Now the scale has been set (will convert pixels to feet). The example is shown below. B-18 

Now, use the drawing tool to draw a rectangle so that the top of the rectangle will be used to measure the vertical offset between signal faces. Then, navigate to Analyze->Tools->Scale Bar. Select OK. The estimated distance will now be displayed on the top of the rectangle. Now, select the line tool and draw a line to measure one of the two remaining dimensions. In Image J, select Analyze->Measure or use the shortcut “CTRL-M”. The measured distance will appear in another Image J window. Repeat the process for the other measurement. B-19 

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