The signals shelf, in reading order — timing sheets first, everything else follows.
Read first: How to Read a Signal Timing Sheet ★ → then Clearance Intervals and Ped Timing.
- Signal Warrants (MUTCD Ch 4C) — all nine warrants with the data each needs; meeting a warrant ≠ getting a signal.
- Intersection Control Evaluation (ICE) — FDOT’s required control-selection process: stages, roundabout-first culture, free CAP-X/SPICE screening.
- Signal Timing Manual (STM2) and Free Training — NCHRP 812 free PDF, FDOT Signal 101/102 CBTs, FHWA Signalized Intersections Guide, UDOT open-source ATSPM.
- NEMA Phasing and Ring-Barrier — the 8-phase numbering (odd = lefts, even = throughs), rings, barriers, and lead-lag; the shared language of every timing sheet.
- Offsets and Coordination — cycle, split, offset, and reference phase; the wrong-reference-phase trap, time-space thinking, transition basics.
- Time-of-Day Plans — a signal runs a schedule of plans, not one timing; always match the model period to the plan actually running.
- Flashing Yellow Arrow (FYA) — the permissive-left display that replaced the doghouse; the left-turn trap and time-of-day protected/permissive modes.
- Detection Basics — loops vs video vs radar, presence vs passage, recalls, gap-out vs max-out; half of “bad timing” complaints are dead detectors.
- Signal Head and Ped Signal Placement — MUTCD 4D/4I/4K placement rules, the 20° cone, backplates, APS; prime plan-review territory.
- ATSPM Basics — high-resolution controller logs turned into coordination, split-failure, and delay plots; retime where the data says.
- Cabinets Controllers and Preemption — what’s in the cabinet (MMU, load switches, detector rack), controller families, preemption vs priority, and the never-open-the-box rule.
Synchro implementation: Synchro QAQC Checklist — timing sheet values must match model settings.
References: MUTCD Part 4 · FDOT Traffic Engineering Manual (TEM) · maintaining-agency procedures in
03 Agencies(who owns timing on each road!). Common EIT signal mistakes: modeling ideal timing instead of field timing for existing conditions · ignoring ped mins forcing splits · wrong reference phase → nonsense offsets · treating max green as split.