Determining the required capacity of turn-storage lanes at urban controlled intersections

Abstract

Currently, in the course of measures to organize traffic in cities, the method of canalization of left- and right-turn traffic flows is widely used. This method consists in the construction of additional left- and right-turn storage lanes on the road network, especially at regulated intersections. However, in modern domestic and foreign scientific and regulatory literature, there are no clear scientifically based recommendations on the use of the method of canalization of traffic flows. The purpose of this work is to improve the efficiency of traffic management by channeling traffic flows in turning directions at urban regulated intersections. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the development of theoretical provisions on the formation of traffic queues that determine the capacity of transition-accumulation lanes used at urban regulated intersections for canalization of left-turn traffic flows. The authors also proposed a simulation mathematical model that displays the combined effect of the work of the controlled intersection and the load factor in the considered direction of movement. To obtain the initial load factor data, the Box-Muller transformation modeling method was used, as a result of which the required range of load factor values was obtained for different standard deviations. The result of processing the experimental data showed that the process of changing the length of the turning lanes under the influence of traffic lights and the load factor is described by a linear model. The developed model will make it possible to adjust the duration of traffic light control depending on the capacity of the turning lanes in such a way as to ensure the presence of all vehicles that accumulate over the total duration of the traffic light cycle and are waiting for traffic, as well as to make calculations at the stage of creating traffic management projects (hereinafter referred to as RTD). The results obtained also made it possible to determine the prospects and directions for further research: 1) conducting a full-scale experiment to confirm the results of the study. Confirmation of the hypothesis about the subordination of the load factor to the normal law of the distribution of a random variable; 2) the study of other factors that affect the capacity of headlands: the intensity of the oncoming flow of vehicles, the geometric dimensions of the intersection, weather conditions, etc.

Keywords

• local extension of the roadway
• turn-acumulative line
• traffic channeling
• organization of road traffic
• signaled crossing
• road capacity
• load factor