Palm Beach County Transit Signal Priority and Emergency Vehicle Preemption

Project Description: The Palm Beach County Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and Emergency Vehicle Preemption project will initially be deployed on two transit routes: Palm Tran 42 and Palm Tran 63. The TSP system will function through a server–based, back–end system between the transit and traffic management centers. The project will enhance bus service reliability as well as improve first responder safety and efficiency in responding to events.

Project Status: On-going

Project Stakeholders:

• Palm Beach County Engineering Department
• Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
• Palm Tran

Project Service Packages:

• PS03: Emergency Vehicle Preemption (Palm Beach County TSP/EVP)
• PT09: Transit Signal Priority (Palm Beach County TSP/EVP)

Project Information Flows:

Information Flow	Source Element	Destination Element	Status
emergency traffic control request	Palm Tran Transit Systems	Palm Beach County TMC	Planned
local signal preemption request	PBCFR Emergency Vehicles	Palm Beach County Field Equipment	Planned
local signal priority request	Palm Tran Vehicles	Palm Beach County Field Equipment	Planned
right-of-way request notification	Palm Beach County Field Equipment	Palm Beach County TMC	Planned
signal control commands	Palm Beach County TMC	Palm Beach County Field Equipment	Planned
signal control status	Palm Beach County Field Equipment	Palm Beach County TMC	Planned
traffic control priority request	Palm Tran Transit Systems	Palm Beach County TMC	Planned
traffic control priority status	Palm Beach County TMC	Palm Tran Transit Systems	Planned
transit vehicle schedule performance	Palm Tran Vehicles	Palm Tran Transit Systems	Planned

Project Functional Requirements (Element - Functional Object):

• Palm Beach County Field Equipment - Roadway Signal Control
• 1: The field element shall control traffic signals under center control.
• 10: The field element shall receive request for transit vehicle signal priority.
• 17: The field element shall receive requests for signal preemption.
• 4: The field element shall report the current signal control information to the center.
• 5: The field element shall report current preemption status to the center.
• 6: The field element shall return traffic signal controller operational status to the center.
• 8: The field element shall report current transit priority status to the center.


• Palm Beach County Field Equipment - Roadway Signal Preemption
• 1: The field element shall respond to signal preemption requests from emergency vehicles.
• 2: The field element shall inform the controlling center when preemption requests have been received.
• 3: The field element shall send the preemption request to the signal controller to immediately preempt the signal for the requested direction.


• Palm Beach County Field Equipment - RSE Intersection Management
• 5: The field element shall receive transit signal priority requests from transit vehicles and forward to the traffic signal controller.
• 6: The field element shall receive emergency vehicle preemption requests from emergency vehicles and forward to the traffic signal controller.
• 8: The field element shall send a signal service request to the traffic signal controller when its application status determines the need for a signal change.


• Palm Beach County TMC - TMC Signal Control
• 1: The center shall remotely control traffic signal controllers.
• 10: The center shall adjust signal timing in response to a signal prioritization, signal preemption, pedestrian call, multi-modal crossing activation, or other requests for right-of-way.
• 3: The center shall collect traffic signal controller operational status and compare against the control information sent by the center.


• Palm Tran Transit Systems - Transit Center Priority Management
• 1: The center shall analyze transit vehicle schedule performance to determine the need for priority along certain routes or at certain intersections.


• Palm Tran Vehicles - Transit Vehicle Signal Priority
• 2: The transit vehicle shall send priority requests to traffic signal controllers at intersections, pedestrian crossings, and multimodal crossings on the roads (surface streets) and freeway (ramp controls) network that enable a transit vehicle schedule deviation to be corrected.


• PBCFR Emergency Vehicles - EV On-Board En Route Support
• 5: The emergency vehicle shall send requests to traffic signal control equipment at the roadside to preempt the signal.

Standards:

• Proprietary Data - Proprietary Comm
• US: GTFS real-time - Secure Wireless Internet (ITS)
• US: NTCIP Signal Priority - SNMPv3/TLS
• US: NTCIP Signal System Masters - SNMPv3/TLS
• US: NTCIP Traffic Signal - SNMPv3/TLS
• US: SAE Signal Preemption - WAVE TCP
• US: TCIP - Secure Internet (ITS)
• US: TMDD - NTCIP Messaging

Project Operational Concepts:

Roles and Responsibilities

• Palm Tran
• Coordinate with the Palm County ITS Operations Facility for traffic signal priority.


• Palm Beach County Engineering Department
• Provide signal preemption for emergency vehicles
• Provide signal priority for transit vehicles.


• Palm Beach County Fire Rescue
• Coordinate with the Palm County ITS Operations Facility for traffic signal preemption.