Modelling and analysis of roundabouts, priority junction and signalised junctions
Junctions 9 is the latest version of TRL’s industry-standard package for modelling roundabouts, priority junctions and simple signalised junctions.
Junctions Version History
| Area | Enhancement |
|---|---|
| REPORTS | Fix: Report no longer crashes if it contains the Junctions Diagram (This issue is often associated with newer laptops and with an Intel(R) HD Graphics Card Renderer) |
| FEATURE | Enhancement: Export to TRANSYT extended to include export of key ARCADY and PICADY data, including geometric data |
| FEATURE | Enhancement: Anonymous feature-usage analytics system added – This facility helps us to develop better software by establishing what features are more heavily or more lightly used, without capturing any personal data |
| UI | Enhancement: New user preferences:
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| UI | Enhancement: Summary results screen: Formatting of analysis / demand set names can be achieved as it now responds to any HTML or CSS in the analysis/demand set name |
| UI | Enhancement: Summary Results: Set IDs (in addition to their names) reported |
| MODEL | Fix: OSCADY module “Unable to Calculate Random Queue” crash now fixed |
| MODEL | Fix: Lane sim: storage is now set correctly when exit lane is linked but not entry lane |
| MODEL | Fix: Small improvements to lane sim ORT and mutual opposition |
| REPORTS | Fix: Report no longer crashes if you close report window whilst generating PDF file |
| REPORTS | Fix: Report no longer crashes while in lane sim mode, if arm name contains an ampersand |
| UI | Fix: Ability to step to next/previous time segment restored |
| UI | Enhancement: Improved speed of analysis/demand/result set switching |
| UI | Fix: Some minor UI changes relating to accident prediction |
| DOCS | Revised User Guide (Issue E) – Revised to reflect minor changes associated with this release. Bypass advice revised |
| ALL | Various other fixes and minor enhancements. |
| Area | Enhancement |
|---|---|
| FEATURE |
Addition of OSCADY module for signalised junctions. More details |
| MODEL | Lane simulation: circulating lanes at roundabouts can now be modelled (including signalised cases, if OSCADY module is registered) |
| MODEL | Lane simulation: most files should run slightly faster |
| MODEL | Lane simulation: fixed bug where model would crash if lanes have non-integer storage |
| UI | New File>Export>Save without results option allows file to be saved with time segment results etc stripped out, allowing for a smaller file size. (Results must be re-generated when file is subsequently loaded.) |
| UI | Fixed bug where user guide PDF would sometimes not open (was dependent on PDF reader) |
| UI | Fixed bug where lane simulation movements grid not usable at 125% DPI |
| UI | Data Editor and Data Grids now use a non-bold font. Previous appearance can be restored by changing File>Preferences>Appearance>Windows Font Bold |
| UI | New “Sync” button on main toolbar will set the Data Outline position to the item containing the last clicked-on data field |
| UI | x-y graphs: if the graph is stopped, the last point is discarded rather than being given a value of zero. |
| ALL | Various bug fixes and minor enhancements. |
| Area | Enhancement |
|---|---|
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: capacity restrictions can now be applied to both entry and exit lanes. A “bottleneck” type of pedestrian crossing with a fixed capacity can be used to do this. In this way it is possible to model cases such as a two-lane roundabout exit that narrows to one lane a short distance from the roundabout. For more details please see Section 14.8 of the Junctions 9 User Guide. |
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: results are now available for each movement within each lane. Access these via the ‘Movement Results’ option in the Options tab of the Lane Simulation screen. For more details please see Section 14.4.2 of the Junctions 9 User Guide. |
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: fixed bug where model would crash if no movements are possible |
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: changed the way turning proportions and HV proportions are handled at linked junctions. (Previously certain files would sometimes fail to run.) This change is mostly transparent to users but may produce slightly different results. |
| MODEL | PICADY results now show total demand and queueing delay etc in the ‘Total’ row of data grids in the UI. |
| MODEL | Queue percentile results would sometimes show zero at high flows; they now show the existing upper-bound of 200 instead. |
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: the user is now prevented from changing Analysis/Demand Set or adding/deleting items during a simulation run. |
| MODEL | Fixed problem with Veh/PCU conversion with HCM TWSC/AWSC junctions |
| MODEL | Major road width for PICADY junctions previously had a minimum of 6m. Widths down to 4m can now be entered, although a warning will be shown to emphasise that these are outside the range of the original research. (For one-way junctions, the minimum width is 3m.) |
| MODEL | Demand Set Relationships: if using ‘advanced’ relationships, the resultant values now take into account any flow scaling factors on the constituent demand Sets. |
| MODEL | HCM Roundabouts now use calibration factors from HCM 2016 (6th edition) by default. Calibration screen now allows defaults to be restored from HCM 2010 and HCM 2016. |
| DIAGRAM | Fixed bug that made the selection and moving of items (particularly lanes in Lane Simulation mode) unreliable |
| DIAGRAM | HV% now shown alongside the OD demand (green arrows) next to each arm. In Edit Demand mode, the HV% can be edited directly on the diagram by double clicking. HV% display can be turned off in the Diagram Options>Text Overlays screen. |
| DIAGRAM | Clearer distinction between priority and non-priority streams for PICADY junctions |
| DIAGRAM | In Lane Simulation mode, a new option (Diagram Options>Other>Show lane interiors) controls whether solid white interiors should be shown for lanes. With this turned off, some of the visualisation overlays are easier to see against a background image. |
| DIAGRAM | Easier to move arms at one-way junctions |
| DIAGRAM | Top and bottom toolbars can be hidden using the View menu |
| DIAGRAM | The ‘whole period results’ overlay introduced in Junctions 9.0.1 is now turned OFF by default. |
| TEMPRO | TEMPRO link updated and tested for TEMPRO 7, 7.1 and 7.2. |
| UI | Right-clicking the Data Outline or Data Editor buttons on the main toolbar will toggle the active screen (if any) from one type to the other. E.g. if you press the Geometry button on the vertical toolbar to show geometry for Arm 1 in an Data Editor, then right-clicking the Data Grid button will switch to show geometries for all arms in a Data Grid, without creating any additional windows. |
| UI | Run menu and auto-run option removed, to simplify UI. |
| UI | Selections within data grids and matrices can now be copied and pasted. (Previously it was only possible to copy/paste the entire grid/matrix.) To do this, make a selection and then use the right-click menu. |
| UI | Any window can now be taken outside the main application window by double-clicking the window’s title bar. It can then be freely positioned on a second monitor, for example. To restore the window back inside the main program window, double click its title bar again. |
| UI | The ‘edit all’ function in data grids and data matrices (available on the right-click menu after selecting some cells) now works with checkbox and dropdown data types. |
| UI | New File screen now allows staggered junctions to be selected. |
| ALL | Various minor bug fixes and enhancements |
| Area | Enhancement |
|---|---|
| REPORTS | Export to Word has been improved |
| REPORTS | Most reports are quicker to generate |
| REPORTS | A smaller font is used by default. This leads to more compact but still readable reports. If you prefer the original font size, you can restore it by changing File>Preferences>Reports>Font Size for Reports. |
| REPORTS | ‘Turning Proportions’ and ‘Average PCU per Veh’ tables are now only printed if the ‘Detailed Demand Data’ option is ticked. (File must also be in Advanced Mode.) |
| REPORTS | If the Input section is ticked, then the Traffic Demand section is automatically ticked and cannot be turned off. This is to prevent cases that have been described to us where reports have been submitted which include all inputs and results other than turning proportion grids. Such incomplete reports can potentially conceal discrepancies between the entered turning proportions and the results shown in reports. |
| REPORTS | Various minor changes to appearance, column widths, justification etc. Reports will tend to be neater than in previous versions when using the ‘Show arm and junction names’ display option. |
| REPORTS | If using a single Analysis Set and multiple Demand Sets, the second Demand Set onwards now omits the superfluous headings for Geometries etc. With large files this leads to shorter reports. |
| DIAGRAM | For roundabouts, a new data overlay shows whole period results (as shown in the Summary Results screen) next to each arm. This is turned on by default but can be switched off by clicking Overlays>Whole Period Results. Adjust the size/position via Options>Text overlays>Whole period results. The overlay uses the same colour coding (both background and foreground) as the corresponding Summary Result screen items. |
| DIAGRAM | If working with multiple junctions, the junction ID size can now be altered independently (Options>Other>Junction ID Size) |
| DIAGRAM | When exporting as a bitmap (right-click and use the Export menu), it is now possible to enter a desired resolution. This can be used to generate large high quality bitmaps. |
| DIAGRAM | Geometry measurement tool: for some measurements you can now right-click on a control point to add more control points, giving finer control over the curvature of the construction lines. |
| UI | Summary Results screen: a new item in the Show menu provides a shortcut to the Sorting and Display section of the Data Outline where various options can be set. |
| UI | Summary Results screen: priority PICADY streams (A-C etc) are no longer shown here. |
| UI | A Task List warning is now shown if the HV% is zero for all movements. |
| UI | Header cells in data matrices (OD screen, Veh Mix screen etc) now allow long arm/junction names to word-wrap. The Widths slider in each screen can still be used to control the column widths. |
| UI | O-D matrices can now contain negative values. This is ignored if running the traffic model but can be used to construct matrices for use with Demand Set relationships where negative growth is involved. |
| UI | Each Analysis/Demand Set can now optionally be associated with a Colour property. Edit the colour by clicking or double-clicking on the colour when showing the Analysis/Demand Set properties in the Data Editor or a Data Grid. Colours are shown in the Data Outline and the main program dropdowns and can be used to visually distinguish between groups of sets. This system can be turned off via Data Outline>Options>Sorting and Display>Colour Analysis/Demand Sets; this option has a corresponding file preference to set its value for new files. |
| UI | All demand, flow and capacity inputs and outputs are now rounded to whole numbers if the current traffic units areper hour. This leads to cleaner data grids and reports. If working in per minute or per time segment, decimals are shown. Decimals are alsoshown if a number between 0 and 1 is entered in the O-D screen, e.g. when entering linked junction turning proportions. This behaviour can be overridden by changing File>Preferences>Appearance>Round flows to whole numbers. |
| UI | If viewing PICADY stream results in a Data Grid, it is now possible to use the Filter menu to show only those streams associated with the current arm |
| UI | The padlock on the O-D screen, Vehicle mix screen and Demand screen now has a third state that freezes the entire contents of the screen in a read-only state. This can be used to view demand data for several Demand Sets at the same time. (Show the O-D screen for the first Demand Set, use the padlock to freeze the screen, then show a second O-D screen and activate the second Demand Set, and so on.) Clicking the padlock again will un-freeze the screen. |
| UI | The choice of traffic units for new files can now be set via File>Preferences>General>Default Traffic Units / Default Traffic Units Period. You can thus configure all new files to start off with units of e.g. PCU/hr or Veh/min according to your preference. Once a new file has been created you can change the units as usual via the Data>Units screen. |
| UI | Analysis/Demand Set dropdowns are wider , to accommodate long names |
| UI | Read data from Excel: a new option ‘Show details for all Demand Sets’ will launch a Data Grid showing the Excel options for all Demand Sets. This is useful for quickly reviewing or editing the options across multiple Demand Sets. |
| UI | TEMPRO Calculator: Some authorities contain two zones with the same name. The calculation for such zones was correct but if subsequently editing the TEMPRO properties, the selection would revert to the first of the two zones. This has been fixed by appending the zone ID to the zone name. If editing an existing file with TEMPRO properties you may need to re-set the zone. |
| MODEL | Lane Simulation: it is now possible to enter a Minimum/Maximum Capacity for PICADY lanes. This can be used as a way of calibrating or adjusting the capacity of lanes. Please note that this should be used with caution; please contact TRL for advice if necessary. |
| USER GUIDE | Clarification has been added to the User Guide to confirm that queues in ARCADY/PICADY are the total on the arm regardless of lane distribution (UNLESS in lane simulation mode), that they include slowly moving vehicles and that they represent expected values. |
| ALL | Various minor enhancements and speed-ups |
Please see the main Junctions 9 page for details about the new features in Junctions 9.
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| UI | Various fixes to make the importing of Junctions 9 files more reliable. Please note that there is a difference in the way that Junctions 8 and Junctions 9 handle Analysis and Demand Set IDs. Junctions 9 allows the IDs to be set by the user to any value, whereas Junctions 8 sets them automatically according to an internal numbering system. If you import a Junctions 9 file where Analysis/Demand Sets have been deleted/renumbered/re-ordered, the remaining sets may appear in a different order in Junctions 8. Any references to IDs such as Demand Set Relationships will be blanked during the import and will need to be re-entered manually in Junctions 8. Please contact TRL for further advice if necessary. |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| UI | Files saved from Junctions 9 (.j9 files) can be imported via the File>Import menu or by dragging the file into Junctions 8. The import will ignore any data or features of the file that cannot be used in Junctions 8. Complex files, or those that make heavy use of Junctions 9 features may fail to import; in such cases please contact TRL for advice. |
| UI | Fixed some problems where certain data fields were incorrectly invisible or disabled |
| UI | If the Report Viewer or Junction Diagram are taken outside the main application window (this is the default for the Report Viewer) they now remain on top of the main window at all times. Added a Print menu to the Report Viewer (also available by right-clicking the report). |
| UI | Fixed bug with PICADY 5 export (CT29) |
| UI | The lower limit for the major carriageway width for PICADY junctions is now 3m. Widths in the range 3-6m are intended for use at one-way junctions; for two-way junctions a width of 6m or greater should be entered. |
| MODEL | Fix to the way certain PICADY stream delays are reported when pedestrian crossings are present. |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| PRODUCT | Inclusion of ARCADY Lite as a new product within Junctions 8. ARCADY Lite is a simplified version of ARCADY, primarily aimed at American users. It offers the ARCADY and HCM 2010 roundabout models, in a streamlined UI, with built-in window layouts that show all basic data on screen at the same time. It also has various other enhancements such as the ability to set alternative intercept corrections without needing to use the full Analysis Sets system. ARCADY Lite can be activated by purchasing an ARCADY Lite licence and registering this instead of the full ARCADY module. If the full ARCADY module is registered, then ARCADY Lite can optionally be used on a per-file basis.
The other changes listed below apply to all version of Junctions 8. |
| UI | Window Layouts now store the contents, orientation and column widths of Data Grids, as well as their positions. This makes it much easier to set up custom views of data and screens for subsequent use at any time. |
| UI | Window Layouts can now be imported and exported, so that they can easily be exchanged with colleagues |
| UI | New user preference to use abbreviated terms throughout UI – e.g. “E” instead of “Entry Width”, “Res Cap” instead of “Residual Capacity”, etc. In this mode many screens and data grids occupy less space on the screen, making more compact layouts possible. |
| UI | Data Grids in rotated mode (fields as columns) allow widths of all columns to be adjusted evenly, using a width slider at the top of the window |
| UI | Data Grids in rotated mode (fields as columns) now allow adding/deleting items by right-clicking column headers |
| UI | Data Grids in rotated mode (fields as columns) now highlight active item, and can make an item active by left-clicking column header |
| UI | New user preference to control whether new Data Grids should be shown in rotated mode |
| UI | New user preference to control whether the Summary Results screen is automatically shown after running the traffic model. Window layouts that already contain results data grids can hence be prevented from launching additional results screens. |
| UI | New user preference to control whether new files should use UK or US units |
| UI | New optional ‘quick set-up’ screen can be used to set basic options for new files |
| UI | Various minor bug fixes / enhancements |
| MODEL | Fixed bug where PICADY stream intercept adjustments would be applied even when inactive |
| MODEL | Fixed bug where LEVELS profile would fail if peak occurs before end of first time segment |
| MODEL | Queue variations (Q95) are now available with PHF profile |
| MODEL | Fixed bug where Summary Results would show blank results if using multiple analysis sets containing different PICADY geometries leading to different PICADY stream definitions. |
| MODEL | Various minor fixes |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| GUI | The link between ARCADY and AutoTrack has been superseded by a link between ARCADY and Autodesk® Vehicle Tracking. This follows the acquisition of Savoy Computing by Autodesk®. The actual operation of the link is unchanged. The requirement to register a licence for the link has been removed. Existing users of ARCADY-AutoTrack Link are still supported |
| GUI | Entry Lane Simulation: if a time segment is selected via the main dropdown, the simulation visualisation time now jumps to the END of the time segment (previously jumped to the start). E.g. if the 08:15-08:30 time segment is selected, the visualisation will show info for 08:30:00, since all other results for a time segment refer to the values at the end of the time segment. |
| GUI | Entry Lane Simulation: the lane configuration screens now respond to Copy and Paste. |
| GUI | Clicking through cells in the Turning Counts screen now highlights the movement in the Junction Diagram |
| REPORTS | Fixed bug where reports showing all analysis/demand sets could differ from reports showing individual sets |
| GUI | Fixed problem with ‘Hide priority streams’ option with LR staggers. |
| GUI | Various minor fixes |
| MODEL | Various minor fixes |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| INSTALLATION | Network administrators can now automatically set up each Junctions client installation to start in Network Licence mode. For details, please see the SECURITY REGISTRATION document included with the product. |
| GUI | Various improvements re UAC and signing on Windows 7/8 |
| GUI | Demand set relationships are now easier to use: turning counts and vehicle mix for the resultant demand set are now calculated automatically. This means that it is now straightforward to set up demand set relationships with common scenarios such as ONE HOUR profile types. (Previously it was necessary to manually enter the turning counts for the resultant set, which in many cases negated the convenience of using demand set relationships.) |
| GUI | Demand set relationships can now be used with linked roundabouts |
| GUI | Max number of analysis/demand sets increased from 20 to 30 |
| GUI | Time Segment Results>Advanced is now hidden from the user (contained various internal flags which are not needed by the user) |
| GUI | Entry Lane Analysis screen is now resizable, making it easier to work with grids of lane movements. |
| GUI | ARCADY-AUTOTRACK LINK: no longer shows the ‘Calculating…’ dialogue during each AutoTrack-commenced run. This makes it more convenient to leave ARCADY minimised while connected. |
| GUI | If running on Windows 8, the default Reader app will be used to launch PDFs if necessary. However, we strongly advise installing a separate desktop PDF reader, which Junctions will use in preference. |
| MODEL | Fixes to capacity calculations of pedestrian crossings at T-junctions |
| MODEL | Change to capacity calculation of one-way PICADY roads. (Advice for manual treatment of one-way roads has also changed; please see Knowledge Base.) |
| MODEL | Entry Lane Analysis now makes better use of multi-core processors which means that the UI is more responsive during simulation runs. (Actual time taken to run simulation is mostly unaffected.) |
| MODEL | PICADY results now behave more consistently when very low flows are reduced to zero |
| MODEL | PICADY results now include a warning about traffic blocking back into the junction (this is present in PICADY 5 but was missed out of the PICADY 8 implementation) |
| REPORTS | Reports now correctly show the name and path of the file being run. (This was not being written in some cases). Reports are now correctly saved in the appropriate destination folder as set in user preferences. |
| REPORTS | Fixes to labelling of sections |
| REPORTS | When using the Convert>Save as PDF option, the generated PDF report now has improved pagination so that content is less likely to break across pages. |
| DIAGRAM | Junction diagram: some lines and other elements in 8.0.1 were very thin/faint and difficult to see; this has been corrected. |
| DIAGRAM | When in Entry Lane Analysis or HCM modes it is now possible to right-click on the entry side of an arm (pale blue line inside one of the lanes) to access the arm properties and the Add new Section option. This makes it possible for lanes to bend or curve as required. This is described in section 14.4.3 of the User Guide but previously did not work correctly. |
| ALL | Various other minor bug fixes and enhancements. |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Product | Product name changed from “ARCADY 8” to “Junctions 8”. Component “Roundabout Module” renamed as “ARCADY 8 (Roundabout Module)” Component “Priority Intersection Module” renamed as “PICADY 8 (Priority Intersection Module)” |
| MODEL | Fixed various bugs that caused some files to run slowly |
| MODEL | Linked roundabout model results are now similar to ARCADY 7 results (generally only noticeable with very high flows) |
| GUI | A progress bar is now shown during model runs, allow runs to be cancelled if necessary |
| GUI | Fixed problem with report generator when using long pathnames |
| GUI | Reports now show ‘ARCADY’ and/or ‘PICADY’ in the banner, depending on the junction types in the file |
| GUI | Fixed problem where junction diagram was missing from PDF reports |
| GUI/MODEL | ‘Roundabout Capacity Model’ and ‘Road Surface’ fields are now only shown when the file contains junctions of a relevant type |
| GUI/MODEL | Various other minor bug fixes and enhancements |
Please see the main ARCADY page for details about the new features in ARCADY 8.
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| GUI | Fixed bug that caused report to show same data for multiple demand sets |
| GUI | Linked roundabout data now included in reports |
| GUI | Various minor bug fixes |
| MODEL | Various minor bug fixes |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| GUI | Inclusion of ARCADY-AUTOTRACK LINK. |
| GUI | Various minor bug fixes |
| MODEL | Various minor bug fixes |
Click here for full release notes
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| GUI | General operation of GUI significantly improved |
| GUI | Size of data files reduced by up to 90%. |
| GUI | Additional tools to aid setting up of linked roundabouts |
| GUI | Better display of warnings/errors when running multiple analysis/demand sets |
| GUI | Improvements to Data Grids, Summary Results screen, Analyser screen |
| GUI | Results button on main vertical toolbar now has a drop-down menu allowing quick access to results for either time segments or for the whole period. |
| GUI | Now possible to import/export user preferences |
| Diagram | Various improvements, including button to toggle background on/off and printing of backgrounds. |
| MODEL | New options available when modelling linked roundabouts. In essence these allow the user to distinguish between closely and widely spaced roundabouts. |
| MODEL | Certain combinations of options banned |
| MODEL | Bug fixes to pedestrian crossing models |
| MODEL | Analysis Sets can now reference more than one Demand Sets. |
ARCADY 7.0.0 was a major release that included a redesigned GUI and many changes to both the GUI and the model. For full details, please see the ARCADY 7 overview.
Click here for full release notes
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Installer | Faster and should prevent problems sometimes encountered when modifying related installations |
| MODEL | The effect of Darkness on Standard roundabouts now correctly affects only the intercept and not the slope. This means that the capacity of roundabouts under conditions of darkness may be slightly different in ARCADY 6.2 AG compared to previous versions. Results should now match ARCADY 7. |
| MODEL | Corrections to detailed mini-roundabout accident calculations. This affects single vehicle on entry, entering-circulating other crossing and entering-circulating merging accident results. Results should now match ARCADY 7. |
| MODEL | Various minor bug fixes |
| GUI | Heavy vehicle proportions printed correctly by report generator. |
| GUI | Various minor bug fixes |
| Area | Change |
|---|---|
| Installer | Copy-protection system changed |
| GUI | Change to help system format |
| GUI | US Level of Service outputs added |
| GUI | Various minor bug fixes and enhancements |
| MODEL | Various minor bug fixes |