Phase Templates

Not an expert at signal phasing? No problem! Even if you are, using Phase Templates is a great shortcut. The default phase templates are also NEMA compliant. You may remember from last week’s post that the HCM 2010 requires NEMA phasing. Phase Templates are a quick way to set the phasing in preperation for an HCM 2010 analysis.

It is common to assign the main street through movements as phases 2 and 6, so the Phase Templates are setup in this manner. For example, selecting the East-West template will set the eastbound through as phase 2 and the westbound through as phase 6. Here is a diagram of the Synchro default Phase Templates:

To use either of the Phase Templates, use the menu command Options>Phase Templates, then you can select either Intersection to North-South or Intersection to East-West. You can then use the Turn Type row for easy setting of the Left-turn and Right-turn treatments.

Local standards may have the phases mirrored or follow a different convention for assigning phase numbers. The Phase Templates can be modified to match the local standards. To edit the Phase Template, use the menu command Options>Phase Templates>Edit Template Phases…

Use caution when editing Phase Templates if you plan to use an HCM 2010 analysis; the new phase template may not meet the requirements (see Chapter 18 of the HCM 2010 for more information).