Gewalt Hamilton Associates (GHA) was selected by DuPage County Division of Transportation (DuDOT) with multi-year contracts totaling $180,000 dollars since 2017. GHA was assigned multiple coordinated corridors of signalized intersections in several cities. Most of these corridors had not been optimized for over a decade and were not handling traffic volumes and patterns efficiently.

After performing turning movement counts at each intersection, GHA staff created Synchro models for the corridors. Using these models, GHA staff engineered new traffic signal programming to improve traffic flow, efficiency, and safety. GHA staff then implemented these new signal timings in the field and observed how traffic operated. Along with DuDOT staff, GHA adjusted signal timings at the intersections to further improve traffic operations.

The Eola Rd project presented several challenges. Metea Valley High School, located just south of the interchange with I-88, has very large traffic volumes for short periods in the AM and PM. Special school release timing plans were implemented and observed to get school traffic into and out of the parking lots efficiently while minimizing impact to commuter traffic on Eola Rd. Another issue was that increasing capacity on Eola Rd drew in increased traffic from adjacent IL 59. Signal timings for shortcuts from IL 59 to Eola Rd were adjusted to meter cut-through traffic, and disincentivize vehicles from using Eola Rd instead of IL 59.

As a final review of the new timings, GHA staff drove the corridor in all applicable time periods, recording speed and acceleration via GPS tracking. By comparing this data before and after implementation, GHA staff estimated overall improvements to driver delay, average stops, and vehicle emissions. All this information is included in the final report that is submitted to DuDOT.