World renowned micro-analytical software
for intersection evaluation and design

ORDER SOFTWARE

This lists all input parameters that can be specified by the user in each input dialog. The Input Report consists of a number of tables and follows the structure of the input dialogs in the Project Tree. This provides an easy method to review input data without having to open various input dialogs. The contents of the report can be printed or exported to a variety of file formats.

Significant improvements have been made to customised models which allow editing of defaults input and model parameters. Customised models created by other users can now be imported directly from Projects that use customised models. Handling of customised models has been made more robust, and time to load models at startup has been reduced.

Each time a Project file is opened, a backup file will be created automatically. This can be used to restore a Project file which has been lost or corrupted due to accidental deletion or system problems.

• Critical Gap Distance has been added to Output Table D.6.
• When "Apply Phase Transition" is specified for a movement, this will now be shown in Output Table S.1. The dot indicating this parameter is now more clearly shown in red in Phasing Summary output (also in the Phasing input dialog).
• Opposed Turn colours and legend have been changed to make them much clearer in Phasing Summary output.

• A facility to move Sites up and down within the Project Tree via the right-click menu has been introduced.
• Drawing of some slip lane cases in the Approaches & Lanes dialog has been improved.
• Operation of Apply button in dialogs has been improved.
• Explanation about the FHWA Model features has been added to the Roundabout dialog.

• A link to the SIDRA SOLUTIONS website has been added to the Help menu.
• Help links have been added to several message boxes.
• Help topics for the FHWA Model have been better identified as specific to this model.

• Layout drawing has been improved for multi-lane T-shaped roundabouts.
• Drawing of some slip lane cases has been improved.
• Layout drawing is now better scaled to the page when printed, ensuring that large geometry drawings should always fit on the printed page.

• Lane width upper limit for approach and exit lanes has been increased to 8 metres (26 feet if US Units are used) for all intersection types. Previous modelling constraints on application of lane width (5 metres at signals, 6 metres at roundabouts) still apply.
• Some internal pedestrian timing parameters are recalculated if the user specifies a pedestrian minimum time rather than using the program-calculated minimum. This allows the program to accept input of a greater range of pedestrian minimum times without errors.
• Messages for phasing-related errors encountered during processing have been improved.
• Capacity calculations for continuous and priority movements at roundabouts and sign controlled intersections have been modified to use a consistent adjustment method for heavy vehicles and turning vehicles.
• "From-To" phase calculations have been enhanced to cover some unusual phasing cases.
• More comprehensive error checks related to All-Way Stop Control have been introduced. Approaches with more than three lanes will not be processed, and an attempt to create an All-Way Stop Controlled intersection by changing all approaches at a Two-Way Stop Controlled intersection to stop control will give an error.

• Improvements have been made to allow importing of older version data files with unusual features that could not previously be imported.
• Previously, older version data files that used the "Constant Saturation Flow" facility (removed in Version 3.0) could not be processed. Any Constant Saturation Flow specification will now be ignored in the import process.

Input and output for all Sites are saved together in one Project file (aap). 

The defaults applicable to each Site kept with the Site data. A defaults editing system allows the user to prepare a customised defaults system.

A Template system provides Sites for all models (left-hand, US HCM, etc) that can be added to any Project.  The user can add Sites to the Template system.

Configuration parameters previously external to the input data file are now used as input data items stored per Site in the data file. These include:

• Sensitivity Analysis settings.
• Roundabout calibration parameters:
  Environment Type and Entry/Circulating flow Adjustment.
• Heavy vehicle equivalent for gap-acceptance purposes.
• Signal control type: Actuated and Fixed-Time.
• Actuated Signal settings

Restructuring of the data system allows all inter-related data items in one input dialog as much as possible.

The right mouse button is used extensively to access menus for data entry.

Check boxes have been used extensively to limit each input data field strictly to one type of data only.

Most data fields which required integer values in previous versions now accept real numbers, e.g. lane width, crossing distance, critical gap and follow-up headway, etc.

In input dialogs, selector diagrams / pictures are available for graphical input.

Movement IDs now treated simply as labels, and alphanumeric IDs allowed.

• L, T, R movements always treated individually, i.e. not aggregated.
• Three separate movements(L, T, R) can now be allocated to a single lane.
• Movement IDs based on the NEMA numbering system for the HCM version of SIDRA INTERSECTION.

The following model improvements may affect results significantly in some cases:

• Downstream short lane effects modelled using Exit Short Lanes for all intersection types.
• The lane-underutilisation effect of Exit Short Lanes is applied to traffic entering the exit road from all directions.
• The effect of the number of exit lanes on lane utilization modeled (insufficient number of exit lanes cause lane underutilisation automatically).

For Single-Point Interchange, separate data for freeway lanes allow configuration of off-ramp shared lanes with left and right-turn movements.

Specification of movement priorities for signals and sign control cases has been simplified. Opposed turn data are no longer specified in the Phasing dialog for signalised intersections. Opposed turns are identified automatically using movement priority specification.

Pedestrian movements are included in the Opposing Movement Selector as relevant, and can be specified as opposing movements for vehicle movements. 

• Signal phasing and timing data specified per Sequence.
• Yellow and All-Red Times specified per Phase (and per Sequence).
• The timing data in the "From-To" format determined automatically for each sequence.

• A new Design Life analysis facility provided with Uniform and Compound growth options.
• The growth can be applied to individual Origin-destination movements selectively, allowing for many demand volume growth scenarios to be tested with ease.