- Project Overview
1.1 Background
Canning Vale is a rapidly growing suburb located in the southern metropolitan region of Perth, Western Australia. It serves as a key residential, commercial and industrial hub. The suburb is well connected by major roads, including Ranford Road, Nicholson Road, and South Street, which provide critical links between the suburb and the Perth CBD, as well as surrounding commercial and industrial zones.
With ongoing urban development and infrastructure projects such as the Ranford Station and Intermodal Container Park, the area is expected to see further growth in population, employment opportunities and travel demand. However, the existing road network already experiences congestion and operational inefficiencies, particularly at key intersections. As travel patterns evolve, there is a need for upgraded road infrastructure to ensure efficient environment of all transport modes, including private vehicles, public transport, cyclists, and pedestrians.
1.2 Current challenges and project motivation
One of the most critical areas requiring improvement is the Ranford Road and Nicholson Road signalized intersection, which:
•Experiences high traffic volumes and congestion, particularly during peak hours.
•Serves as a key connection between residential, commercial and industrial areas, which requires efficient movement for diverse travel modes.
•Struggles to accommodate increasing multimodal travel demand, including public transport, cyclists, and pedestrians.
In addition, with the construction of Ranford station, some commuters will use Grand Boulevard as an access route to Ranford Road before proceeding toward the station. This sign-controlled intersection may struggle to handle the increased multimodal demand during the peak hour, creating capacity and safety concerns. As a result, redesigning this intersection is necessary to meet future traffic demands and improve safety.
Another major concern is the Nicholson Road and Clifton Road intersection, which is currently sign-controlled but is expected to experience significantly higher traffic volumes due to:
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•The planned intermodal container park, which will increase heavy vehicle movements entering and exiting Clifton Road.
•The expected rise in general traffic demand, which requires a more robust intersection design to maintain safety and efficiency.
Furthermore, Ranford station will serve as a key transit hub, connecting the suburbs to Perth CBD, which facilitates seamless transfers between trains, buses, private vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. An efficient station layout is essential to ensure safe multimodal integration and smooth access for all users.
To address these challenges, this project aims to redesign and upgrade key intersections and transport facilities to enhance traffic efficiency, multimodal accessibility, and road safety. Additionally, the project will explore the implementation of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to improve traffic management, real-time monitoring, and user experience at these locations. - Project Scope
This project requires students to evaluate, optimize, and design urban transportation infrastructure using professional software tools. The focus is on improving traffic operations, multimodal accessibility and ITS integration at key locations in Canning Vale, including:
•Ranford Road & Nicholson Road (signalized intersection)
•Ranford Road & Grand Boulevard (sign-controlled intersection)
•Nicholson Road & Clifton Road (sign-controlled intersection)
•Ranford Station
Figure 1 illustrates the key study locations and highlights the intersections and transport infrastructure to be analyzed and improved through this project.
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Figure 1: Study Area—Key Intersections and Ranford Station
To address the project goals, students will complete four interrelated tasks.
Task 1: Evaluation and Upgrade of Sign-Controlled Intersections
Students will evaluate and upgrade two sign-controlled intersections (Ranford Road & Grand Boulevard, and Nicholson Road & Clifton Road). The task involves:
•Assess the capacity of two sign-controlled intersections using SIDRA and manual calculations
•Identify the key design issues, such as delays, conflicts and safety concerns
•Propose appropriate upgrade solutions, such as geometric improvements or signalization
•Compare performance before and after the upgrade using traffic simulation and analysis
Task 2: Signalized Intersection Optimization
This task focuses on the intersection at Ranford Road and Nicholson Road. Students will:
•Manually calculate the cycle length and green split allocation based on existing traffic conditions
•Evaluate the existing intersection performance using appropriate performance metrics
•Identify future bottlenecks and potential multimodal conflicts under projected traffic growth
•Develop upgrade proposals, such as signal timing adjustments and channelization improvements, to enhance intersection performance
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•Compare performance before and after optimization using simulation tools
Task 3: Ranford Station Layout Design and Multimodal Integration
Students will design an efficient multimodal transport station layout for the Ranford Station area. This includes:
•Design a multimodal transport station to support train, bus, pedestrian, cyclist and private vehicle movements
•Demonstrate the operational performance using traffic simulation
•Provide justification for the design based on safety, accessibility, and projected demand
Task 4: Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Implementation
The final task explores the integration of ITS technologies to enhance performance across the study network. Students will:
•Propose ITS measures to enhance traffic management and safety
•Develop a deployment strategy tailored to the project locations
•If feasible, simulate ITS solutions to demonstrate potential impacts - Methodology
3.1 Data collection and analysis
To evaluate existing and future traffic conditions, this project will rely on traffic volume data and performance metrics to assess intersection operations and multimodal efficiency.
Traffic data will be obtained from WA Trafficmap and provided datasets, capturing:
•Turning movement counts at key intersections and roads
•Heavy vehicle percentages
•Pedestrian and cyclist flows
The intersection geometry will be obtained from Google Maps, and the public bus timetable can be sourced from Transperth.
The effectiveness of current and proposed intersection designs will be analyzed based on:
•Level of Service (LOS) to measure traffic efficiency
•Vehicle delay and travel time as key congestion indicators
•Pedestrian and cyclist waiting time at crossings to assess accessibility and safety
3.2 Software and tools
•SIDRA—Used for intersection capacity evaluation, LOS analysis, signal optimization and basic intersection schematic layouts.
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•PTV VISSIM—Used for traffic flow simulation and multimodal transport analysis.
•PowerPoint or Hand-Drawn Sketches—Used for station layout design. Students can create conceptual layouts using shapes, lines, and text annotations as an alternative to CAD. - Timeline and Milestones
You need to complete the project within five weeks. The detailed schedule is as follows.
Time, Content & Relevant Tasks
April 4
Sign controlled intersection design
Task 1, April 11
Signalized intersection design
Task 2, May 2
Roundabout design
Task 1 & Task 2, May 9
Multimodal Transport Station Design
Task 3, May 16
ITS Concept of Operations
Task 4
The project consists of three key milestones, with specific deliverables required at each stage.
Milestone 1: April 25—Initial Analysis and Problem Identification ✓
Submit a 10-page report covering:
•Evaluation of intersection capacity for both sign-controlled and signalized intersections.
•Identification of key design issues (e.g., congestion, safety concerns)
•Preliminary recommendations for upgrades
•Summary of simulation findings, including 2-3 pages of extracted results from SIDRA and VISSIM ✓
Upload SIDRA and VISSIM simulation files for the existing conditions
Milestone 2: May 21—Proposed Design Solutions ✓
Submit a 15-page interim report detailing:
•Redesigned intersection layouts for signalized and sign-controlled intersections
•Optimized signal phasing and timing adjustments
•Ranford Station layout for multimodal integration
•Annotated screenshots from SIDRA and VISSIM, demonstrating before-and-after performance improvements ✓
Upload SIDRA and VISSIM simulation files for the upgraded intersection and station designs
Milestone 3: June 6—Final Submission (TBD) ✓
Submit a final report incorporating:
•Comprehensive evaluation of all intersections (existing conditions and proposed upgrades)
•Comparison of existing vs. improved intersection designs, supported by SIDRA and VISSIM performance metrics
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•Evaluation of Ranford Station design, assessing multimodal integration (buses, cyclists, pedestrians, private vehicles)
•ITS implementation strategy, outlining proposed solutions, feasibility, and expected benefits
•Discussion of real-world feasibility and recommendations for implementation ✓
Upload the final SIDRA and VISSIM simulation files. ✓
Submit final presentation slides, summarizing the design process, findings and recommendations - Assessment Criteria
The final report on transportation infrastructure design accounts for 20% of your final marks and the presentation accounts for 10% of your final marks.
The assessment criteria for the final report are as follows.
Category
Description
Weight (%)
Relevant Tasks
Traffic analysis and calculations
Accurate use of SIDRA for intersection capacity evaluation and signal control optimization. Includes manual signal timing calculations and degree of saturation analysis for sign-controlled intersections.
15%
Task1, Task2
Simulation quality
Accurate VISSIM setup for pre-upgrade and upgraded intersections simulation.
15%
Task1, Task2
Performance improvement and comparison
Clear before-and-after analysis of LOS, delay, queue length and capacity using graphs, tables or figures. Demonstrates measurable improvements.
10%
Task1, Task2
Station design
Well-designed Ranford Station layout ensuring efficient integration of buses, pedestrian, cyclist, and private vehicle integration. Includes VISSIM simulation and performance evaluation
15%
Task3
Innovation and feasibility of proposed upgrades
Creativity and practicality of intersection and station upgrades to ensure real-world applicability
10%
Task1, Task2, Task3
ITS implementation plan and justification
Well-researched ITS solutions to improve Ranford Station and surrounding network. Clearly explains expected outcomes
10%
Task4
Report quality and clarity
Well-structured, professional report writing with logical flow, correct referencing and proper formatting
15%
Final Report
Presentation and visualization
Clear SIDRA and VISSIM outputs, station layout diagrams, and well-annotated figures to effectively communicate findings
10%
All Tasks.
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