Behaviour of channelized section spillover: a numerical simulation study

ABSTRACT

A typical arterial consists of two sections: an upstream section (U-section) and a channelized section (C-section). When vehicles queue beyond the interface of the two sections, channelized section spillovers (CSSs) occur. This research investigates the dynamic behaviours of CSSs under various traffic scenarios, by utilizing an enhanced lane queuing model. The model is able to explicitly capture the queue profiles at signalized intersections when CSSs occur, and also reflect the influences of road geometry and first-in-first-out behaviour on CSSs. The major findings include: (1) CSSs may be ‘created’ by exiting CSSs; (2) CSSs may be either ‘erased’ or delayed by earlier CSSs; (3) due to the interactions among different CSSs, queues generally need time to stabilize, even when demand and supply are fixed. These uncovered characteristics of CSSs necessitate the re-modelling of delay, travel time and capacity at signalized intersections, under a more dynamic framework.

KEYWORDS:

• Channelized section
• spillover
• signal control
• capacity
• queue profile

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51408538 and 71401025; Zhejiang Province Public Welfare Scientific Research Project under Grant No. LGF18E080003; the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang under Grant No. 2018C01007; Shanghai Rising-Star Program (17QB1400600) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.