Effect of operational attributes on lateral merging position characteristics at mid-block median opening

ABSTRACT

The paper proposes a parameter named as lateral merging position (LMP) to understand the placement characterises of U-turning vehicle at mid-block median opening (MBMO) in divided urban roads (DiUR). In this regard, videography data were collected from 14 MBMOs. The LMP was estimated for different categories of U-turning vehicles and the statistical distributions to describe the LMP in 6-lane and 4-lane DiUR has been proposed, separately. Furthermore, the effect of various operational attributes, namely; traffic condition, driver characteristics and vehicle characteristics on LMP are explored. Subsequently, mathematical models have been developed using regression analysis to estimate the LMP for different categories of vehicle with varying operational attributes. The developed models will not only be beneficial for better estimation of conflicting traffic volume but will also be helpful to propose geometrical augmentation at MBMO to reduce traffic congestion and to enhance quality of traffic operation and safety at MBMO.

KEYWORDS:

• Mid-block median opening (MBMO)
• lateral merging position (LMP)
• vehicle characteristics
• driver characteristics
• U-turn
• operational attributes
• divided urban road (DiUR)

Acknowledgments

The study reported in this paper is the part of ongoing research of Faculty Research Scheme (FRS) titled as 'Driver and traffic characteristics at uncontrolled junctions,' funded by IIT(ISM) Dhanbad [FRS(91)/2015-2016/CE]. The financial assistance provided by the institute to carry out the research is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.