UNSIGNALIZED

INTERSECTIONS
Ing. Andrs Sotil Chvez, Ph.D.
Class 08

INTRODUCTION
The unsignalized intersection is the most

common intersection.
The control system is done either with Stop

Signs or Yield Signs, or similar features

Like signalized intersections, it is necessary to

determine the capacity of the intersection to

analyze if it is properly served or not

TYPES OF UNSIGNALIZED
INTERSECTIONS
1) Major Street vs. Minor Street: Stop sign at

the minor street only.

2) 2 Streets with Equal Importance: Four-way

stop intersection
3) Main Street and a Ramp: Yield sign at the

ramp plus geometric channelization

4) Low volume intersections: First-come, first-

served without any signs

ANALYSIS OBJECTIVE AND

METHODOLOGY
Estimate the capacity at the minor street and

also the left turns from the major street into

the minor street.
The used methodology is probabilistic

(stochastic) and it includes two concepts:

Space distribution
Space acceptance

Mental and physical condition of the driver

Risk perception
Acceleration characteristics

MAJOR-MINOR
INTERSECTIONS
Its analysis is complicated because of the many

conflicts associated with them

Crossing a major street depends heavily on the

destination. As such, which one is more

complicated to go to?
Turn Right?
Go Straight?
Turn Left?

FOUR-WAY STOPCONTROLLED
INTERSECTION
This intersection is much easier to analyze

because the probabilistic component is

heavily reduced
Representative variables
Vehicle spacing
Number of lanes
Turn percentage
Traffic volume distribution at each approach.

FOUR-WAY STOPCONTROLLED
INTERSECTION

FOUR-WAY STOP-CONTROLLED
INTERSECTION CAPACITY (HCM
2000)
The capacity is calculated with the following

formula:

LEVEL OF SERVICE FOR FOURWAY STOP-CONTROLLED

INTERSECTION
LEVEL OF
SERVICE
A
B
C
D
E
F

AVERAGE DELAY (s)

< 10
10 15
15 25
25 35
35 50
> 50.0

FOUR-WAY STOP-CONTROLLED
INTERSECTION CAPACITY (HCM
1994)
The capacity is calculated with the following

formula:

FOUR-WAY STOP-CONTROLLED
INTERSECTION CAPACITY (HCM
1994)
Approach delay is calculated with the

following formula:

EXERCISE
Distributing the

shown volume
values to 50% to
each turn,
determine the LOS
for the four-way
stop-controlled
intersection

WITH OR WITHOUT TRAFFIC

LIGHT
If the delays are either E or F, definitely

something has to be done to the intersection

(e.g. install a traffic light)
If the LOS is C or D, the traffic light can or

cannot be installed, but other solutions could

be evaluated.
The previous analysis is done with the HCM

methodology
However, there is another methodology that

can be used MUTCD Warrant Analysis