Texas-based traffic management equipment and software developer Trafficware has released Version 10 of its flagship Synchro Signal Timing and Analysis Software, which now incorporates the latest updates for the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM).
During the Transportation Research Board’s (TRB) 96th Annual Meeting, which was taking place last week in Washington DC, Trafficware unveiled V10 of its Synchro macroscopic analysis and optimization software application.
The latest update to its Signal Timing and Analysis Software now adopts the TRB’s recently released Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) 6th Edition methodology for signalized and unsignalized intersections, two-way-stop-control intersections, all-way stop-control intersections, and roundabouts or ‘traffic circles’. Beyond the traditional focus on vehicular movement, the recent HCM 6th Edition builds on the multimodalism, introduced in the HCM 2010, allowing engineers to assess the overall transportation experience from the user’s perspective. After new Federal Highway Administration-sponsored (FHWA) research, the roundabout methodology includes an updated capacity model.
TRB’s HCM6 is as a fundamental reference on concepts, performance measures, and analysis techniques for evaluating the multimodal operation of streets, highways, freeways, and off-street pathways. The 6th Edition incorporates the latest research on highway capacity, quality of service, and travel time reliability, and improves the HCM’s chapter outlines to help practitioners applying HCM methods understand their basic concepts, computational steps, and outputs.
Used in more than 90 countries worldwide, Synchro’s Analysis Software is a traffic signal timing application that helps traffic engineers and transportation planners design, model, optimize, simulate, and animate signalized and unsignalized intersections, including roundabouts. Traffic agencies and consultants have used Synchro Studio for more than 20 years, ensuring the product is both tested and proven, allowing engineers to analyze traffic operations in days versus weeks. Synchro’s signal optimization routine allows the user to weight specific phases, thus providing users with more options when developing signal timing plans. Because the software is easy to use, traffic engineers are able to produce detailed modeling plans within days. For Version 10, Trafficware also updated Synchro’s user interface, introducing a new look and feel with easy-to-use and intuitive ribbon bar controls.
Trafficware’s chief technology officer, Darren Beyer, noted, “We saw the immediate value of adopting TRB’s new HCM methodology so engineers could have the latest research and analysis available. When an engineer’s credibility is on the line, we want them to trust Trafficware software.”
